Habit of A Lifetime Ch. 05

Jimmy and Lily had a tempestuous relationship from the start. They were always either hugging or fighting. Rayne often told him that he would sit on the stairs with Skye well into the night, listening to them as they shouted and screamed at one another. Ray never cried though. Until he was about twelve years old, Simon had never once seen his best friend shed a tear. He did not even cry when Lily packed her bags one night, fed up with the arguments and Jimmy's drinking, and took her children to live at her sister's house in New Romney, a few miles down the coast.

He and Ray still saw one another at school and Ray came to stay with Simon at the weekends. (There was no room at his aunt and uncle's house. Uncle Bryan and Aunt Iris had twin daughters of their own already and the Romney semi was filled to capacity by the addition of Lily and her small brood.) Puberty had driven Rayne's weight up briefly until he was about eleven years old. After the move, he started to lose it again, quite rapidly. By the time he was fifteen, Rayne Wilde weighed less than seven stone.

The change in circumstances was not the only personal upheaval he had to contest. Within two years, Skye ran away from home to London – allegedly to have an abortion. She severed contact with her family and refused to come home. The neighbours' tongues wagged endlessly about that.

Simon knew that his friend had a vivid imagination, but even he could not quite believe that Ray would make up the tearful allegations that his Uncle interfered with the pair of them and was responsible for Skye's pregnancy. Perhaps Ray sensed that, for he did not mention it beyond the first couple of times when Simon just looked at him strangely. Life went on for the pair of them but Rayne seemed to grow increasingly distant. He hung out with an older crowd who drank cider and smoked tabs down on the seafront late at night. Ray began to skip school and was constantly in trouble. Simon drew back into himself. Being an only child, he often envied Rayne the bustle and chaos of family life. His own parents were older and more formal. His father worked in the city and vanished early in the mornings, often not returning until late evening. On Saturday mornings he played golf and Simon's mother went shopping. On Sundays, there was church and a walk and lunch. It was all very ordered and sensible.

His mother never went out without her shoes on.

But then, his mother had never taken the family car to Beachy Head and gassed herself following on from her son's ultimate allegations to the police that his Uncle had sexually assaulted and frequently buggered him against his will. Rayne was with Simon when it happened. He had fled back to Dymchurch in confusion and terror when the police arrested Bryan. Lily killed herself, unable to live with the sense of having failed her children. Simon's mother, sensible to the last, called the police and told them to collect Ray from the house.

Si remembered how his mother had put her arms around Rayne, holding him as the young policewoman tried to explain to him that his mum was dead. He had not even cried when they told him the news. To this day, Simon was not sure that he understood what the policewoman was saying to him.

Simon sank down on the opposite verge and put his head in his hands, wishing the memories would go away. He knew that if it was bad for him, then for Ray it must be a hundred times worse, but he could not cope with the past right now. The present was nightmarish enough. Beyond the softly pinking engine of the cooling Mercedes, he could hear Rayne moaning quietly to himself on the other side of the road.

Once, when they were both fifteen, he had promised himself solemnly that he would never let anyone else hurt Rayne Wylde. He wondered now if he could keep that promise.

DANNY

30th June, 1999 – Deptford, S. London.

"You do know, don't you... of course... you must... that we are going to 'have' to kill him."

Daniel had managed to switch off since the huge, blond Vamp came to his cell earlier in the evening. He was professionally immune by now – able to block them from his mind at will and pretend delight and affection as they lurched and bucked between his thighs. It was what made him so good at his job. They all wanted the same thing at the end of the day; they wanted reassurance; to know that they were the biggest or the best lay he had ever had. They wanted the satisfaction of planting their seed in a pretty bedmate and walking away to brag about it to their friends without the threat of that seed growing to trouble their perfect futures.

Most of his clients were married men. Danny supposed he ought to find the idea repellent. He guessed that some of them even had sons or daughters his own age. It was another of those things that got shut away in a dark place in the back of his mind whilst he lay, naked and submissive beneath them. If they were disgusting, what did that make him?

Evermann was the biggest, without a shadow of uncertainty. He seemed to require no assurances of that from Daniel Weston but the young man told him so anyway; vacantly, breathlessly, as the powerful, blond Vampire impaled him deeper and deeper. He could not remember any man getting so far inside him before that first coherent night with his captor. Danny knew that it would hurt in the morning, but for now he was numb to it. Just a piece of meat – no fears; no feelings.

He resisted a little as Evermann bit down on his bare shoulder and he felt the fangs extend within his flesh. His assailant's soft, wet mouth clamped down over the bite, lapping at the spill of fresh blood and sucking greedily from the wound. Strong hands eased Daniel's naked thighs higher and wider as the vast, broad-shouldered Vampire male began to pump away faster and harder between his legs. Danny knew that blood made them impossibly randy. Mister Zelarin always rested him before a Vampire client, and made sure that there was plenty of iron and protein in his diet before 'and' after. He also had an undead bodyguard on hand in case the customer tried to go too far.

This was very different. If Evermann wanted to drain him tonight, there was no way on earth that Danny could stop him. The first trickle of anxiety ran down his spine as Evermann's ravenous mouth worked at the punctures in his left shoulder. He felt sick.

'I don't want to die. I don't want to die.' He said the words to himself over and over, like a mantra. So bound up was he in his chant that when Jabez Evermann's lips finally lifted from his trembling flesh, he did not even feel it.

He tasted the raw meaty tang of his own blood on Evermann's tongue when those cool, wet lips touched his in a long, insistent kiss. The Vampire bucked once more, pressing himself fiercely and interminably into Daniel's rectum. His own body quivered like a tensioned rope as he held the thrust deep within the boy's hot, snug passage. Danny experienced a warm, slow flooding sensation a long way up inside him. Evermann's mouth left his own and a growl of satisfaction escaped the Vampire as he steadily pushed himself back onto his hands and knees.

Danny shivered as that gigantic prick pulled slowly out of him. He was left feeling hollow and sore, as though something he could not describe had been stolen from him and he would never get it back. Evermann drew the soft, warm covers over him. A large hand stroked his tangled hair now.

"Thank you," the Vampire whispered. That brought him back abruptly.

His clients hardly ever expressed gratitude, at least, not in words. Some bought him presents afterwards, or left him excessive tips. If they spoke during the act, he was professionally deaf to the words. They were all the same, in any case.

Evermann reached for the silk robe he had discarded at the foot of the bed when he prowled onto the mattress and began to undress his struggling captive. Danny shivered again as he wrapped that muscular, sun-gilt, hairless body in fabric that seemed to mould itself to his imposing frame. He pushed the heavy fall of his long, pale hair back over his broad shoulders with both hands and looked directly into Daniel's eyes. His unblinking gaze was the colour of old gold, or two vast chunks of amber.

It was at this precise moment that he spoke those words; the ones that set a fire raging in Danny's veins.

"You do know, don't you... of course, you must... that we are going to 'have' to kill him."

It took him a long while to understand exactly what the Evermann was proposing. Who were they going to kill? Danny thought of Rayne Wylde's startled, ashen face; those terrified, ice-green eyes pleading silently with him as he realised that he was about to die. Danny huddled deeper into the covers, retreating from the image. He could not go through something like that again. He 'would' not; not even to save his own life.

Evermann stroked his hair once more as if it was all agreed and he was assured of Daniel's compliance. When the boy looked up at him, the expression on his quietly handsome face was almost sympathetic.

"We 'both' know," Evermann said very softly. "If he thinks you have walked away from him, he will come after you and kill you."

In an instant, Daniel understood. His blood briefly ran cold. 'Mister Zelarin' – this bastard meant to kill Zelarin.

"Then... Then..." Danny stammered, suddenly finding words. "Y-you should let me go back to him."

Evermann shook his head slowly. A tendril of light blond hair tumbled down into his eyes and he pushed it aside. "Not a good idea, young one. I know him well. I know that even if he allows you to live, you will not go unpunished for failing him. Wylde was not stopped. Zelarin will be aware of that by now. A beating would be the 'best' you could hope for."

Danny stared back at him, helpless with fury and disbelief.

"You told me the singer was dead!" he exploded, sitting up at once. "You said I killed him!" In a fury he laid into the Evermann, no longer caring if he was signing his own death warrant by so doing. "You liar! You fuckin' cunt!" he snarled, slapping and punching that broad, golden torso until Evermann caught his wrists and raised them firmly above his head, lifting the struggling youth to his knees. The covers fell away from his nude, sweat-damp body and Daniel tried to kick out at him but could not get his feet under him. His cheeks heated in fury and embarrassment as the Vampire merely surveyed him with a cool detachment.

"You said he was dead!" he yelled, close to tears. He had stopped struggling though. Finally, the Evermann lowered and released him. At once, Daniel snatched at one of the fallen coverlets and pulled it to his waist, his face still burning. "Bastard! Lying bastard!"

"I did not lie. He 'is' dead," Jabez Evermann told him coolly. "Rayne Wylde is as dead as I am, and as your master, Zelarin, also. Do you understand me, child?"

He blinked, feeling tears well up behind his eyes and fighting them back. He understood all right.

"You... you 'bit' him! You... 'infused' him!"

Evermann nodded his head once. "Zelarin cannot have discovered this yet. Nevertheless, he 'will' find out. And Zelarin knows well enough how to murder Vampires, child." He looked solemnly at Daniel.

"Why?" Danny demanded, only half listening to this. His mind was racing over a field of increasingly improbably reasons why Zelarin should want Wylde dead and just why it was that Evermann was so keen to see him survive. "Why bite him? Why not let him die? What is he to you?"

He realised that the idea of Wylde and Evermann together left him furiously jealous... and also just a little bit horny. He had not forgotten how good the sex had been that night, before Rayne began to choke. Imagining Rayne Wylde submitting to the Vampire as he had just done, caused him to bunch up the coverlet in his lap in an effort to disguise what was growing there.

"I have waited for Rayne Wylde for over fifty years," Evermann replied, rather evasively – or so Danny thought. "Our connection is more... complex than simply that of lovers."

"You could bite me too," the young man suggested, still glaring at him. "Then it would be harder for Mister Zelarin to kill me."

Evermann shook his head again. His blond hair swayed like a curtain of silvery silk in a breeze. The look on his face, however, said that he found the comment amusing.

"What's so bloody funny?" Danny snapped. "Why not bite me? What's wrong with me? I was fine for you a few minutes ago!"

"Ah, child... it would not save you for long," Evermann sighed, still smiling ruefully. "After he and his men had... 'enjoyed' you, it would be a small task indeed to have them hold you down whilst he severed your pretty head from your delicious neck. For that is the most efficacious means for the disposal of Vampires."

Daniel winced at this graphic description. Jabez Evermann's smile did not fade as he added; "And in any case, when you taste so good alive, what use could you possibly be to me as another cold-blooded fledgling?"

The young man fumed visibly at this.

"You bastard! You just want to keep me alive so that you can feed on me! I'm just a pretty snack to you! Is that it?"

"Not 'just' that," Evermann retaliated in cool, unflustered tones. He looked Danny up and down in a way that heated the mortal's blood, in spite of his disgust.

"You cold-hearted, undead pervert!"

Evermann laughed quietly at that. "Oh, young one! You are a joy, for sure. And a deliciously accommodating guest, I will not deny it."

"You're keeping me here to fuck and feed you!" Danny growled at him. "You're disgusting. You're no better than any of Mister Zelarin's clients. At least they 'paid' for me!"

One pale eyebrow twitched upward at that. Jabez looked thoughtfully at him, the smile finally fading from his handsome, leonine face.

"You would prefer it if I gave you gifts? Did Zelarin do so when 'he' spread your legs?" he enquired.

Danny looked away, muttering; "Fuck off!"

"Just so," Evermann nodded. If he was offended, it did not show in his expression or his voice. "Then I shall explain something to you, child. You are alive today because Rayne Wylde had the compassion in him, even as a Vampire, to stay my hand when I would have bled you dry. It would have been in his best interests to take as much sustenance from you as your feeble body would give him, but he was merciful. And because I hold him in such high regard, I heeded his request."

"I don't understand..." Daniel faltered, a little awkwardly. 'What was Evermann saying? Had Rayne Wylde actually saved his life?

"Then I will speak plainly," the Vampire said. "Wylde is clearly a sentimental creature. Our kind are soul-less, as you presumably know. When we receive the Eternal Kiss what we were in life should cease to be. Of course, the memory prevails and for some this is a difficult transition. Rayne Wylde has tried to cling to his mortal habits. He obviously felt 'sorry' for you. If he has feelings for you then you are useful to me. Should his affection wane, then I might have to reconsider my hospitality." His smile became somewhat clinical as he added; "For now you are entertaining enough."

Danny shuddered as the Vampire shrugged off his robe once more and reached forward to pull the coverlet from his hands. Long, powerful fingers curled with impossible gentleness around his hardening cock and stroked it steadily to full erection. He let himself be drawn back towards that muscular body and closed his eyes as two more intrusive digits probed deliberately between his cheeks, pressing easily past the puckered ring of muscle and on into his twitching passage. He inhaled a sharp breath as he felt Evermann's deft fingers quicken their inward thrusting and the hand around his prick rubbed faster and more firmly. Soon the enticing tickle of smooth flesh against the sensitive gland deep inside his anus left him gasping more frantically and writhing in the Vampire's careful embrace. He rode on the Evermann's pumping hand shamelessly and whimpered his need and disappointment when those clever fingers were so abruptly withdrawn.

A small, hungry moan escaped his lips as he found those skilful probes promptly replaced by Evermann's glossy, silken cock-head. The Vampire's impressive hard-on met little resistance as it eased back into him slowly from behind. Danny shivered with pleasure as he was drawn back into his captor's arms and the fingers which so recently pleasured his anus, now cupped and caressed his throbbing balls and pulled him down firmly onto Evermann's huge, tumescent cock.

His moans grew more urgent and frequent as Jabez began to thrust again, his mouth soft and wet and hungry on Danny's bare neck and shoulder, sowing fresh shivers of lust through his skin. In spite of his determination to shut the Vampire out, he found himself growing more intensely aroused with every inbound stroke of the Evermann's huge erection. In a last ditch effort not to completely embarrass himself he closed his eyes tightly and imagined Rayne Wylde kneeling behind him like this, impaling him roughly on an insatiable, twelve inch dick.

His lover nipped lightly at the soft flesh in the hollow of his neck and shoulder, licking at the beads of blood he had drawn with a rough tongue. The constant, internal friction against his prostate, coupled with the kissing and tonguing of his sensitive neck and the intimately fondling hands on his genitals robbed Danny of all his self-control. Forcing his arse down furiously into his mate's shaven crotch, he writhed and ground his hips on that enormous cock for all he was worth.

As Daniel spurted over and over, spraying the bedcovers with hot cum, he keened his lover's name breathlessly.

"Rayne! Oh god... Rayne, Rayne, yessssss!"

SIMON

He started out of his own contemplation to the realisation that it had gone quiet and there were gentle hands on his arms, shaking him almost tentatively. Simon shrank back, lifting his hands to rub at his face. Until then, he had not even known that he had been crying.

"'S alright, Hathaway," Charley told him gently. He seemed a little fazed by Simon's reaction. "Don't get upset. We'll sort it."

"I'm sorry..." Simon sniffed, wiping his nose on his sleeve quickly.

"You ain't got nothin' to be sorry about," Charley reassured him a little more gruffly. "Not like Himself over there!"

Rayne was leaning against the car, arms folded across his chest, watching them impassively. There was a trickle of dried blood between his nostrils and upper lip. The singer smiled coldly now. Simon looked away with a barely perceptible shudder. "You didn't need to get involved in all of this, Chaz" he murmured, still a bit tearfully. "If you loathe him so much...."

"Sshhh!" Charley shook his head quickly. "Lovin' and loathin' haven't nothin' to do with it. You do what you gotta do to get by. I've never been what you'd call a shinin' example to others. But believe me, I never did nothin' to no one that wasn't expectin' it. Sure, I did my time in the Nick - but I had a spell in the Forces too; that was good for me. Taught me to look after me self! Thing was, 'I' was never all that good at takin' orders neither. When I come out of prison, workin' for Whipsnade paid for the Merc and looked after me, even if it meant putting up with that little shit, Wylde! I never was completely self-sufficient before then - and I've got kinda used to it!"

"You could get another driving contract, easy," Simon whispered, shaking his head incredulously. "I don't get it...."

Rayne laughed bitterly, his boots crunching on the gravel of the track as he walked slowly across to them. His arms were still folded tightly across his chest and he wore a coldly cynical expression on his pale, chiselled face now. "Si, sweetheart! He's not got a fuckin' record just for shopliftin', has he!" the singer exclaimed as though this should be something his drummer knew about. "What was it, eh - Chaz love? A bit of GBH that got out of hand?" Rayne laughed huskily to himself. "Did someone over a little bit 'too much'? Anyway - he's done his time for it, like the man says! What d'you get, Charley? Seven years, was'n it?"