A Legacy of Shadows

Eventually, it grew late. We'd passed hours after being done eating, so we went home. I was exhausted, far more than I was accustomed to for so early an hour. As we drove back, I felt Sarah's hand on my leg, moving up and down in a rhythm that was making my cock respond eagerly.

"Hey," I mockingly objected, "I'm not easy."

"That's not what I heard. I heard you slept with a lot of women."

"From who?"

"Isa. She said you were pretty shy when you lived here, but since you left, you've had aton of lovers."

I did some quick mental math.

"I don't normally tell women this on a first date, but I think I've had sex with a grand total of five women. The number jumps to seven if you count hand and mouth stuff. Only two were serious."

Sarah wrinkled her brow in a way that I was finding more and more adorable.

"That's not a lot, no. I've been with more people than you have, I guess. Maybe I'm the..."

"No," I said fast, stopping her, "I understand. It took me a long time to accept that the De Heer family wasn't normal, but when I did, I loosened up a bit and just let myself be myself. I never expected to get laid ever again or find new friends. Ironically, when I was relaxed, I found it easy to meet new people and talk to women. Isa never left. For her, the idea of having multiple partners as a woman has been taboo to her since she realized what sex was, and when men do, she's going to associate the behavior with dad. Maybe it's not a ton of lovers, but I know why she'd disapprove of it."

Or at least I thought I did.

"Still," Sarah said, "I sometimes wonder with the way she talks. She's actually pretty experienced but...does she really think I'm someone to keep around?"

"I think you'd know if she felt that way. Like I said, it's less that I'm promiscuous and more that it makes her see me like our father."

We drove in silence for a little while, Sarah's breathing intensified, her hand gradually moving upward.

"Sarah?"

"Yes?" Sarah's voice was husky and full of need. There was no doubt as to what she was thinking.

"I'm trying really hard to focus on getting home, but if you keep doing this, I'm going to have to pull over and bend you over the car hood."

Sarah laughed.

"You make it sound so appealing. But fine, I can wait. I just don't want you to lose interest."

"There's no danger of that. You're an extraordinary woman."

Sarah laughed, a little more scornfully than I expected.

"If you say so."

"I do."

I drove through the checkpoint, followed immediately after by the black SUV that I hadn't seen but had known was out there somewhere. I parked and looked at Sarah. After hesitating for a moment, she spoke.

"So, I know its a bit forward of me, but do you want to come inside?"

"Are you inviting me into my own house?"

"No, I'm inviting you into me. I just happen to live in your house."

Sarah smirked at me, and I kissed her. She wasn't expecting it, and she leaned into me, her tongue dancing with mine. She pulled away but was breathing heavily. As she did, I caught her perfume, light, and fruity. Beneath it was the scent of her body, musky and exciting.

"You can't say things like that to me without consequences," I said, softly.

"I'm looking forward to them," Sarah said as she got out of the car. Her walk was slow and sultry, intended for my viewing pleasure. She turned and looked at me as she entered the side door by the garage. I got out and followed quickly. As I came inside, I saw her petite form just turning the corner of the small side staircase leading upstairs. I got upstairs just in time to watch her turn into what must have been her room.

I followed, feeling that old intensity come over me. I understood what she wanted from me, and I had it in spades: cruelty, ferocity, and maybe a little danger. I followed Sarah through the door. It was a beautiful room and felt like her. She had decorated it well in a spectrum of light blue colors with beautiful landscape pictures on all of the walls. A small desk sat in the corner, adjacent to her bed.

Sarah turned to face me, her mouth in a teasing little smile. It went away when I kicked the door behind me closed. I didn't ask for anything. I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed downward. She didn't resist. Her eyes got wide, and she fell to her knees, mouth parted slightly. I looked down at her, grinning coldly.

"You know what to do. Don't make me remind you."

Sarah nodded. Hesitantly, she undid my belt, and my fly then pulled my cock out. Her hand looked so small gripping it, and she looked up at me, her eyes full of need. I nodded, and she took it in her mouth. She gagged a little but took me all the way to the balls before releasing me and doing it again. I groaned.

"You're a good little cocksucker, but you know that, don't you?"

Sarah nodded, half of my cock still in her mouth. I got angry. Angry with the way her eyes pleaded, angry with the way I had been treated.

I kept it under control. Used it. I had a way of knowing what women wanted from me, and Sarah wanted to be used. She was a natural submissive, beautiful and kind and pleasing. I looked her in the eyes as I took her head in my hands. Then I began to fuck her.

Sarah didn't resist me. She braced her self on my thighs with her hands, but she otherwise gave herself to me. Her mouth was just a hole to be used. I sped up and fucked her harder, feeling my cock head it the back of her throat as she gagged on it. Soon I'd had my fill of her mouth. I wanted the rest of her. I pulled out of her mouth, and she almost fell forward, gasping.

I looked down at her, my insistence abated for a moment.

"Are you all right, Sarah?"

She nodded and smiled at me, her mascara running. She bit her lip. This had excited her, as I thought it would. I smiled honestly and warmly at her, then I lifted her by her shoulders and practically threw her onto the bed. She gasped, but I didn't wait. I pulled her blouse apart, tearing buttons off. I heard them clatter onto the hardwood floor. She had small, perky breasts, as I had guessed, and wore no bra. I mauled them in my hands before I nipped and sucked at them.

Sarah moaned, and I unbuttoned her capris. After I had bit her once, marking her, I pulled her pants and underwear off in one smooth motion. Her blonde pussy was trimmed, swollen and wet and ready. I forced her legs open and thrust my cock inside of her mercilessly. She cried out, but I ignored her.

I fucked her hard then. Bruisingly so. I may have been too rough. I didn't stop, though, and she didn't ask me to. I sped up, thrusting harder and harder until she had wrapped her arms around my neck, holding on for dear life. I felt her tense then, cumming, hard. Screaming my name. After a moment, she breathed out into my ear.

"Cum in me. It's okay. Please."

I buried myself inside her and released. I hadn't cum that well or hard in a long time. I emptied myself in her, not caring if she was on the pill or not. I was a De Heer, and we used our property how we wanted.

After a moment, all was calm. I was panting, and Sarah was crying. I kissed her head and lips. I helped to undress her.

"Are you...leaving?" Sarah asked, almost mournfully.

"No," I said.

I undressed and then got into the bed with her. I pulled her to my chest, and she eagerly complied. I stroked her back and told her what a good job she'd done for me, and what a good lover she'd been. She sighed, and I continued to tell her the things that I appreciated of her. How wonderful she'd been with helping me get prepared, how she was funny and smart, and kind.

Some people call this aftercare, but I really just wanted her to know that I wasn't just fucking her. I may have had the De Heer temperament. Still, I hated the idea of using someone for sex without caring for them, especially someone like Sarah.

So I held her, and we dozed off together. She was, I reflected, a lovely gift from my sister. Even then, however, I wondered what the catch would be.

I woke in the very late hours and watched Sarah's chest rise and fall. There was something peaceful about her face at rest. She was still for so long that I assumed that she was still asleep, but I must have woken her up when I did. She sat up on one elbow and spoke. I could hear something like concern in her voice.

"I think you're wrong about Isa. I mean, why she's upset that you've had sex with so many women."

"Really? Why?"

"I...I think she's jealous, Reuben. I shouldn't even say anything, but...she got so upset when she read about you and Nina getting married. She hates her, and even she knows that its irrational. There's no reason for it. Nina hasn't ever done anything that would be suspicious to us. God, I'm going to get in so much trouble for telling you this."

"Then don't tell Isa that you did. Why do you think it's jealousy?"

I was afraid I knew the answer.

"Because, I, uh, shit. Look, please don't be mad at your sister. We talk about everything. I know about you and her. I mean, I know about what happened between the two of you."

"Fuck," I said. I couldn't believe that she'd told Sarah.

"Please don't be mad at her. She made me understand why and how it happened. You're both very intense, smart, attractive people. And you had no one else you could rely on. Your father was...well you know. Your mother wasn't bad, but she wasn't protection. You protected each other. And...well...things happened...

"That's one way to put it," I said, maybe more bitterly than I intended. I sat up, suddenly wanting to be far away from here. Sarah's hands caught my arm.

"Please don't go. Please. I'm sorry I even mentioned it. I just...I think that she still feels some of those feelings, and maybe they confuse her a little. That's all."

I let myself be pulled back down on my back. Sarah settled in on my chest, and I put my arm around her. For all of what we did and had discussed, she had an air of innocence to her that made me want to protect her.

"She might be confused, and I do think she cares about me, but she doesn't love me like that."

"How can you be certain?"

"Sarah, when I left, she could have come with me. She could have tried to stop me. She could have contacted me, or responded when I tried to contact her. It's been years, and she never did anything but keep tabs on me, so she knew that I wasn't a danger to the family interests. If she loved me the way I...the way I had loved her, then she would have found a way to let me know."

"You're probably right, Reuben. I don't know much about the time before I showed up, but I knew that there were awful times. Please don't be too harsh with her."

"Isa can take care of herself. If she wanted me to trust her, then she would have chosen a different way to bring me back into the fold."

"Maybe, but I think that she wants you to be happy. Just give her time. Please."

I sighed. I knew that there was no way Sarah would take my side in this particular issue, and I really didn't want to fuck up the rest of the night for either of us.

"Time is something I appear to have, so I'll try and keep an open mind. I mean, she shared you with me, that has to count for something, right?"

Sarah made a noise of approval. It was a weird situation, but I was, for the moment, happy.

"Reuben?"

"Yes?"

"Can you sleep here tonight? All night I mean? I don't get to sleep with Isa very often..."

"Of course. Sleep well."

We both did.

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Routine

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There was something about having sex with a beautiful young woman who was eager for more made my involuntary life-changes a bit more appealing. I decided to make the best of it for the time being, despite knowing that it had been at least partly overt manipulation on the part of Isa.

I sent an email to the Dean of my university, thanking him profusely for his tolerance of my unusual situation, and asking what he felt would be best for the organization. If he asked me to step down so another could replace me, I would. I could just as well do academic work independently as I could there. Then I sent a note to Nina, explaining in the vaguest terms possible about family business emergencies and reconnecting with my sister. I informed her that I'd be spending more time here and less there, and asked her to tell our mutual friends that I was fine and I would, in fact, return in a few months or so.

I settled into something like a routine. Every day I'd educate myself on some new part of the De Heer business. I'd acquaint myself with the details, call a few key people at each corporation or organization, and introduce myself. All were very helpful and answered my questions to the best of their ability. Quite a few were nervous. I guess they'd all heard the rumors of how my father had dealt with disobedience and failure. I could attest personally that some were true.

On my back, in a neat crisscrossing of lines, were the scars that proved it. He didn't do it all at once, or even very close together. In my youth, like a lot of people, I'd made mistakes and engaged in some misbehavior. There was had always been a price for disrespect and disobedience, and a De Heer always revenged himself or made good on his penitence. I clearly remembered the first day that Father had literally etched that lesson into my skin.

* * *

"Come on. This is bullshit. You're not going to do it."

Isa's voice was sharp and taunting. She enjoyed needling me sometimes. At the time, I hated it, but now I think I was just one of the few people that she had any actual influence over.

"I can. I mean, I think I can, anyway. And if I can, then I can help you up, too."

Isa rolled her eyes at my childish display of optimism. Granted, wewere both children still. We'd turned fifteen a scarce week before. It had been a rough year. Our tutors had been changed, and our new ones were generally harsh and unaccepting of failure. Father never pulled strings to get us in anywhere. He made sure that we had the best education, but he also made sure that we worked hard to learn. Isa was already quite pretty, although she was still relatively thin and waif-like, years away from growing into the sophisticated beauty that she would become. I have such vivid memories of her that day. She wore a black sundress and had her hair up in a bun. Her makeup was, even then, flawless. I was in jeans and a simple t-shirt. There were no graphics of any kind on it, of course. That would be too vulgar for a De Heer.

"Come on. Even if they don't notice us leaving, Rachel will see us coming back over. She lives right there!"

We were both considering a particularly old section of wall at the edge of the De Heer Mansion. It was well concealed behind one of the smaller houses for servants. Rachel had just moved in a few months before and had started as one of our new regular drivers. She also taught Isa and me basic self-defense and firearms skills. Let me tell you, as a boy full of hormones, having an eighteen-year-old redhead tomboy basically press herself against you to adjust your and aim was the height of my day.

The wall itself was crumbling, a large chunk having fallen off the top. There were handholds and ivy everywhere. We'd discovered the flaw by chance. Everywhere else, there was barbed wire at the top of the structure. Granted, this was just the interior wall, and there was a sizeable uninhabited area on the other side. Still, it seemed like an opportunity to me.

"She won't see anything, Isa. And who says we have to come back?"

Isa's eyes grew large at the idea of honestly running away. Then they hardened. I didn't particularly understand what that meant, but I did now. For the moment, I was just a foolish boy who wanted to impress the girl he liked: in this case, my twin sister. Isa had deeper thoughts, and looking back, I think that she believed me to be mocking her. She'd always been very sensitive to that sort of thing, at least from me.

"Hmm. I'll tell you what. You go over, and if you can get to the main road and back without being discovered, then I'll go with you the next time. We can go to that stupid diner you keep talking about and everything."

"You mean it?" Even to my own ears, I sounded naively hopeful and excited. Isa smiled like a cat who'd just caught a mouse by its tail.

"I never lie to you," she said, "do I?"

"No, but you can be pretty creative with the truth, or in withholding it," I answered. I wasn't quite as dumb as I sounded.

"Well, in this case, I mean exactly that. If you make it back without being caught, I'll go with you. Otherwise, I'm not really interested in taking the risk."

I nodded, and without another thought, I jumped up. I'd climbed trees on our estate before, and this wasn't much different. It was easier to be honest. I found handholds and pulled myself up. I was in decent shape. Isa was encouraged to exercise a little, but I was pushed hard. Father wanted me to be in prime shape. I kept up that habit even after I'd left the family home and was a mild-mannered academic.

"Ow!"

"Are you all right?" Isa asked, almost letting human concern break through her controlled veneer.

"Yeah. There's still some wire up here, and I guess there's broken glass embedded in concrete up here as well. I cut myself, but its pretty minor."

"Well, be careful. You don't want to mess up your clothes and get mom asking questions."

I rolled my eyes.

"I'll be back soon, you'll see," I said, and then dropped over the other side with what I hoped was daring aplomb.

I looked back briefly. The climb back up would be harder, but there was a tree close by that I could use to get to the top if I couldn't find handholds on the outside of the wall proper. I wasn't worried about that. I had a task to perform, after all.

Getting out to the road was smooth. I ducked behind some bushes when I saw some guards strolling down the main driveway up to our estate, but other than that, it was a quick walk, maybe fifteen minutes. I wasn't unaware of the various electronic sensors and cameras. While my efforts were probably somewhat amateurish, I think I managed to avoid most of them. It didn't matter. Isa had no intention of letting me be caught bymachines. That wouldn't be any fun at all.

I'd made it to the street and took a deep breath of the spring air. It felt free out there. It was just a country road, like a million more in America. Here I was just a kid, not someone with wealth I didn't deserve and expectations that I didn't want. I couldn't get Isa to understand this feeling, no matter how hard I tried. She was, I suppose, looking forward to being in control.

I was so enjoying the blue sky and bird song that I never noticed the car creeping up until it was too late. I heard the doors opening and turned around. My first thought was I was about to be kidnapped, but then I saw Rachel behind the driver's wheel and relaxed. I shouldn't have.

Two men, people that I'd known most of my life, who were friendly with me, got out. They wore black suits and stern looks. I'd been caught, but I still didn't understand what was going on. Not until one grabbed me and slammed me on the hood of the car hard enough to knock the air out of my lungs did I fully realize what was happening.

The men probably honestly liked me and were decent people, but I wasn't their employer. My father was, and clearly, he wanted to make an example of me. I knew then that Isa had told him, the fucking brat. Rachel wouldn't meet my eyes as the larger of the two men cuffed my hands behind my back. They used double-locking ones, just like the actual cops. With practiced efficiency, they hauled me into the back seat, seating on either side so that I couldn't make trouble.