Acquiring the Ring Ch. 01-04

1.

Nick's notorious father Jack Allan Fesseden passed away that fall. Leaving to his children a vast fortune and an uncertain legacy.

Nick rushed home from an extended vacation to Europe to help make the final arrangements and attend the funeral. He arrived to find his numerous siblings in an uproar. While the rest of their father's fortune was intact and accounted for in his will, the possession that they all coveted the most was unaccounted for- the Ring was missing.

About a dozen men and women gathered that day at the cemetery to see Nick's father off into the afterlife. Jack Fesseden was not a particularly loved by those that were gathered around his grave that gray afternoon, but they were the only ones who could have been said to be on the old man's good side, if one could even argue Jack Fesseden had a good side.

He was a true lecher. His appetites were as legendary as was his ability to find ways to satiate his desires... He had dated Hollywood stars and Supermodels. He traveled the globe and spent money with wild abandon. He garnered something of an ill reputation in the gossip columns of Paris and New York. He always had three or four young women in his entourage that he slept with and verbally chastised in public.

These women always seemed somehow strange... They talked and acted normal, yet there was something vacant about their expressions. Their eyes seemed dead, thoughtless. They were completely devoted to Jack when he was around, becoming very meek and subservient in his presence. Jack seemed to hold an unnatural power over them. They were his absolute slaves, mentally and physically. Many people thought that the whole scene was too creepy and suspected all sorts of things from Nick's Dad. It was said that he was a witch, a cult leader, or a pimp. Some thought he was a mind controller working for the CIA or KGB, like something out of a bad spy movie... Other's thought that Jack had ties to the white slave trade, but absolutely nothing could ever be proven about Jack. He remained a mystery to the town's citizens.

But those that were observant and had time to watch the intricacies of Jack Fesseden's life knew that his strange power over all people revolved around the gold ring he constantly wore on his right hand. He often played with it while he was talking to people, especially among the members of his entourage. The family that knew Jack in his later years believed that the Ring had something to do with Jack's strange powers over people. He refused to talk about it, and grew very irate if you asked him any questions. There was no doubt that the ring was the key to Jack's powers. Now no one knew where the Ring was, except for the corpse that they were watching be put forever into the earth.

The expressions on Nick's family's faces were not ones of sadness or mourning, they seemed rather almost annoyed. No one had seen the ring since he died. The various women that were staying with him at that time: a film actress from New York and several members of the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleading squad, were all suspected of stealing it and the police were called in... Nothing turned up; they said that Jack hadn't been seen with the ring for a least a week before he died. IT seemed that the old man had thwarted them one last time from beyond the grave. Nick imagined the old man looking down, or up, in his case, as laughing his ass off.

They listened to the priest's bleak message about avoiding a life living without repentance and then watched them slowly lower him into the ground. Three of Nick's Half-Sisters were whispering amongst each other, plotting. He knew they were going back to Dad's estate to search for the ring. Nick knew it would be a waste of time.

Nick knew that his father had done something purposeful with his beloved ring. His father probably knew he was dying and took steps to keep the wrong parties from coming into control of his mysterious ring. Whatever sorts of power it had, his father wanted to be sure that it did not pass into the wrong hands. And since it was no secret he thought that most of his children were whiney and brainless, he would make sure that none of them would get the ring... But the question that remained was... What did his Dad do with the ring? Who now held its power?

"Well Nick, what are you going to do after the wake?" Nick's brother Harvey, three years older and in Law School at University of Montana, came up and patted him on the back.

"I don't know. I thought about trying to go grab a couple of drinks at one of my old drinking holes. Maybe call a couple of the old girlfriends; it's been a while since I got laid. Nice service, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so... But I can't stop thinking about that ring. "

"Yeah, it's weird that they haven't found it. I wonder what he did with it... You don't think that Dad would have thrown it in the river or destroyed it or something, do you?" I asked him.

"Yeah, I do. The old bastard would love to do something exactly like that. Just to screw us a little more as his final earthly act..." Harvey said. They slowly walked from the gravesite up the hill to the limousines. "Are you going to take a limo? I am going to have some of the family meet over at my house for drinks and diner. You are completely welcome. I would love you to me Julie, my wife, she's a great cook."

"No, thanks though, I don't think that I am going to make it to the house... I'm going back to my apartment to lie down for a while and think about things. I think that I need a few minutes to myself after the last couple of days."

"Okay Pal. See you later?" He looked down at me a smiled. "You should come over sometime, have diner with Julie and the kid. A night away from the bars."

"Definitely. I will call... Later."

Harvey nodded and Nick walked down to the parking lot next the small stone chapel. He got into his Lexus and pulled out onto Cornell Road and headed downtown to his apartment. After he got home, he briefly considered calling one of his ex-girlfriends, see if they wanted to come over and let him work out his aggressions on their bodies. He tried to call his last girlfriend, but there was no answer.

He heated a frozen pizza and watched some Discovery Channel. It was mid-afternoon and he needed to rest and think about what he was going to do next... Maybe he would go back to Europe, Greece or somewhere warm. He also knew that a couple of his buddies had taken up semi-residence in Thailand, maybe he would go there and whore around for a couple of weeks. He loved the sex available to him in SE Asia... Boys, girls, young, old, innocent, dirty, all of it was there for the taking...

He ate the pizza and started watching a Nature show about South America. He finally picked up the phone and called his Travel Agent to book a flight to Bangkok for the day after next. He ordered a first class ticket and decided that he would think about taking a long layover in the Philippines. Just then someone buzzed him from downstairs.

"Yes?" Nick asked into the intercom

"A delivery for Nick Fesseden," a female voice said.

"Alright, I'll buzz you in."

In a moment, Nick answered the door to see a lovely young woman with long red hair that fell over the tight brown uniform that hugged her form... She was holding a package and clipboard. She stared at him for a moment, smiled strangely and handed him the clipboard.

"I need you to show me a Photo ID and to sign here," she said, stepping into the apartment.

Nick got his wallet from the coffee table and showed her his driver's license. She examined it and then gave it back to him. She seemed to look at him strangely for a moment.

"Thank you, what delivery company do you work for?" Nick asked, noticing that her uniform had no identifying marks. "I don't see any insignia."

"We are a private concern. Our services are not available to the general public."

She stopped talking to look back and study the room for a moment. She almost seemed like she was listening for someone else in the house. When she was satisfied they were alone she turned to him and smiled. She really was beautiful, Nick thought. The best-looking delivery driver he had ever seen in his life. Her big green eyes burned into his when she looked up at him.

"I have been told by my client to give you the following directives." She said. "You will open this package only after I leave your apartment. You will find a VHS tape. Watch the contents of the tape at your first opportunity, making sure that you are alone when you view it. The contents of the videotape are for your eyes only. You cannot tell anyone of the tapes existence until you have seen its contents. It will be known if you break any of these directives. It is entirely in your interest to trust my client and he strongly urges you to do so..."

"Who is your client?"

"We are an exclusive service, sir. I cannot and will not identify my client unless he so desires it. That is the last of the information that I was told to convey to you. I suggest that you watch your videotape; perhaps it will give you the answers you want. I bid you a good evening." She smiled at him dismissively one last time and was out the door, her shapely ass gliding swiftly away from him.

Nick shut the door and locked it. He walked back to the living room and picked up the package. No return address. He tore it open and took out the tape. On the label it had his name and address.

2.

Nick turned on the VCR and fed it the tape.

It was a home video. The camera panned shakily across a large room with a raw stone fireplace and animal heads hanging from the walls. It looked like it was a cabin or lodge or something... The camera continued panning the room. Pair of women lying in the 69 position on the leather couch were aggressively licking each other's pussies and digging their nails into each other's flesh, but the camera did not stop on them. Instead the camera's view dives deeper into the house and down a long dark hallway. Strange sounds echoed in the background, perhaps coming from behind the doors as the camera moves by. Finally the camera stopped and a door opens and a room that looks like a study or library or something is entered.

A large wood desk spanned the far end of the room, flanked and backed with shelves of old books. Several candles burn on the desk casting a dim light on the man who sits behind the desk looking at one of the dusty volumes. A nude woman stands next to him, watching him attentively. She looks like she is high or drunk or something, a slack, pretty expression over her slack features... The woman looked familiar somehow... The camera moved so you could better see her face. It was the delivery woman! Nick was sure of it. That was why she didn't work for a proper delivery service.

As the camera lowered and moved even closer he saw that the man sitting behind the desk was also someone that he knew. It was Jack Fesseden, his Father.

"You found it, good." Jack said to the person operating the camera. "You might not be such a stupid slut after all. Put the camera on the tripod and go keep your girlfriend Delores company. I'm sure she's horny again, and since you did such a good job with the camera, I'm sure she will send you to orgasm a couple of times. She has such a talented tongue for being such a clueless bitch." Jack was being even more demeaning and cruel than usual.

Jack paused then stared directly into the camera. He had the usual serious, fuck-you expression attached to his face. Nick noticed that he was wearing the ring when they were filming. The camerawoman was a short blonde with huge tits that walked to the delivery woman, Delores, and they started to kiss and their fingers started exploring each other's flesh. Jack watch them melt into absolute lust for a moment. Then he turned back to face the camera and before he spoke, just for a moment, Jack's expression changed slightly, becoming more thoughtful, more reflective.

"Hello Nick. If you are watching this tape I have passed. I knew that certain parties were planning my demise for years; getting me out of the way and making it look like natural causes. Your siblings will now stop at nothing to remove me. Perhaps I am ready to go. There is nothing else that my tired old soul needs to experience anymore. I have traveled and fucked more than most rock stars. I have lived a remarkable life Nick. I do not regret it, but I have grown tired. Perhaps Hell or whatever awaits me will be something new. I have had to live a life of secrecy for so many years. I know of the rumors that have circulated about me. None are true, of course. No one knows the exact details of the story of Jack Fesseden. Until now, until you, Nick."

" I know that I was distant and cruel to my children. I did this for reasons that will be explained to you shortly. I regret I with all of my heart, but it had to be that way. But of all my sons, I have felt for a long time that you take after myself in attitude and disposition. It is for this reason and this reason alone that I have chosen you to carry on the legacy of the ring."

"The others will be rewarded well. I amassed quite a fortune, enough for all of them... To you Nick, I give my most treasured possession, my beloved ring. It will both bless and curse your life." His father shifted in his seat and straightened one of his desk aids. He touched the band on his finger affectionately.

"I don't know that you are up for it. It will change everything about your life. Some of the changes will be good, and some will be bad. If you are weak you will be destroyed." His father looked angry for a moment. "I almost threw it in the river. But I couldn't, I had to pass it on. You just better not fuck it up with your careless attitude. This ring is not something to take for granted. If you use it wisely and discreetly you will be rewarded. Do not become consumed with the ring; control it, do not let it control you."

"Anyway, warnings aside. I guess you want to know what the hell I am talking about. So here's the short of it.

"As you know I lived in India for the first three years as an journalist and interpreter. I traveled a lot at this time of my life, covering events from Eastern Africa to Japan. I had an interest in collecting Native goods and antiques and turning around to sell them when I went on leave in Los Angeles or Tokyo. I first saw the ring when I was on the East Coast of Africa, whoring and hunting for a group of rebels to talk to about their attempted revolution from the government of Kenya. It was late morning and I was browsing the local markets looking to pick up some old jewelry or something to turn into profit in a couple of weeks when I got back home in Calcutta. I forget the name of village I was in... One of the merchants was just unloading his wares when I arrived at market. He said that he was a Bedouin nomad and had been traveling for a long time to reach the city. He had some very nice items. I found many pieces that interested me. Then, in the bottom of a small jade box, I found the ring I am wearing right now... It had a huge stone that I still can't identify set into its face with gold work all around the band. On closer inspection I noted the exquisite metallurgy and craftsmanship. The tiny markings looked like ancient Arabic characters. The merchant said he thought it was very old and probably from Yemen."

"He wanted almost 500 American and I almost decided to forget it, but there was something about the ring that told me to take the chance and spend the remainder of money I had with me on it. I paid him and I went back to my hotel in the city center. I put it in my pocket and hoped that none of the street trash in the marketplace had seen me buy it."

"I locked the ring in the hotel safe there it sat until I left to go back to Calcutta.

"I didn't try the ring on until two weeks later. I was bored one afternoon sitting at my apartment with three of my roommates and I was going through the antiques that I was getting ready to sell. I saw the ring and tried it on just for fun."

All of the sudden, I felt a sensation that I couldn't quite describe. I felt more aware. I was noticing things about the three guys that I lived with. In a way I could see what my bunkmates were thinking. I could see their motivations and desires no matter how minute. I could read their emotions and tell what they were thinking by only looking at them."

"I realized the feeling the ring gave me was more than that- I could almost see their thoughts; it was like I was looking into their brains and seeing what their mind's eye looking at....

"It was effortless. I could make it stop if I wanted to, all I need to do was concentrate and I heard and saw nothing unusual. Yet with a simple thought I could enter their thoughts and find out anything they knew. I could bring up their memories and emotions at will. It was an incredible experience. I sat thereat the kitchen table listening to my three roommates thoughts. It felt extraordinarily wicked, like I was violating their very private thoughts. I wondered what they would think if they knew that I was seeing their thoughts. For example, one of the photographers was thinking about the prostitute he had hired two weekends ago in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She had been tall and very dark skinned, a really beautiful prostitute. He had fucked her in the ass without a condom and now he was worried that he might have caught a disease...

Another roommate, another member of the reporter pool at the Herald, was thinking about sucking a large Indian man's dick while he was drunk last weekend in New Delhi. He was worried, wondering what it meant that he got drunk sometimes and let other men fuck him. He wondered if he should confess to his priest or tell his fiancé."

"It was all too much, that was way more information than I needed about my roommates. I told them that I was going to the library at the University to do some reading. I grabbed my bag and hit the street. Leaving my roommates to their thoughts."

"I decided to go a restaurant that was across the street from the women's college. It was about lunchtime and I thought I could have some fun trying to listen to women's thoughts. I got a table and immediately spied a cute brunette British girl sitting relatively near-by in the restaurant. She had shoulder length hair and the drab school uniform she was wearing strained to contain her well-developed breasts and hips. Her lush green eyes had quiet, mischievous manner to them. She was talking with another lovely blonde haired Australian female sitting across the table." They were in deep conversation; the Australian was telling how she had slept with one of the professors at the school. He followed her into the restroom and stuck it to her in one of the stalls. The British girl giggled nervously as the other girl explained what the professor's cock looked like, swollen and alert. He asked her to kiss it and she told him that she didn't want to, but ended up doing it anyway after he started pulling off her uniform and playing with her pussy with his deft fingers. The Australian tried to tell the British girl that she didn't like sucking the professors cock, but she was lying, she liked being down on her knees suckling the professor's organ the best of all, even better than when he came in her ass. She always made men cum in her ass, that way she wouldn't get pregnant."

"The British girl was concentrating on her friends story. I could dip into her thoughts and sense that her friends sex story was making her hot. I could tell that her panties were getting moist. I wondered if she was a virgin and suddenly I could see her losing her virginity with a dark-haired boy in her parent's house back in London, two years ago."