From the Shadows

Sammy had found several areas difficult to get into. To his relief, he didn't have to approach Jasper, because the concierge approached *him*.

Jasper was wiping down his massage table, of something that was definitely Hunter's cum, but Sammy wasn't going to comment on the loopy wrestler leaving a minute ago.

"So if Lazaro is right," Jasper said, "and I'll trust he is, then we'd only have to push Orion into the painting and Alec will be ejected. Or we pull Alec out and Orion gets sucked in. Either way, we'd have a dying Alec on our hands and unless Orion majorly slips up... I doubt he's used something I can fix. He knows my talents to some extent."

"Finding the thing is still step one. I think we can narrow it down to all the places I *can't* go. Or maybe Orion has locked me out of some places specifically as red herrings."

Jasper glanced out the window where dark birds gathered in the garden, then put a hand on Sammy's shoulder. He'd seen the masseur wash it off body oil but flinched anyway.

"Anything wrong?" Jasper asked and pulled his hand back, clearly on edge. Nobody trusted anyone right now.

"No, just..." Sammy grinned. "Wasn't going to mention it but I can't help imagine you reaching around and jerking off Hunter with that hand just a minute ago."

"Oh, don't worry," Jasper said and grinned with mischief. "Kept my hands all to myself."

Sammy gave him a disbelieving look. "What does that mean?"

The employee's smile broadened. "I bottomed, mostly."

Sammy chuckled, imaging the brown skinned hunk riding the thickly muscled boy while jerking himself off, and held still as Jasper placed a hand on his shoulder again.

"I was the heir till yesterday," Jasper said. "I wasn't declared 'disgraced' and I'm still a family member so I think I can do this. By the Raven name, I grant you permission to walk these halls unobstructed, see its sights unblended, fear no harm at the will of the house. Okay, good luck, Sammy. I appreciate you doing this."

Sammy lightly shook his head at the absurdity of it all, making his fringe jiggle. "Expect my report soon, commander."

==========+++++==========

The flashlight dashed over the same crates again, revealing the same old fabrics that looked gray in the shimmer from outside, as the sun underneath the horizon reflected on the clouds for a few more minutes.

Sometimes it took convincing to make the mirror double follow orders. He was after all a twisted, darker version of the real Sammy, with his own motives. Not rebellious for the sake of it but overall more sinister and less interested in helping the needy.

But Orion had claimed the grand suite and such an insult would not stand unanswered.

Of course the original Sammy had cravenly accepted the downgrade to the Blue Room at the end of the left stairs. Not that the room sucked, it was a work of art in itself, but the offence was a matter of principle.

'Shadow' would contribute to the arrogant former-ghost's downfall.

Yes, his name was no longer 'Sammy-two', or 'mirror-double' but Shadow. Having been a secret, Shadow had never needed a name. Not that it had bothered him -- all of Sammy's memories about socializing, partying, fine dining and fucking were also his own. He didn't miss anything. He never felt trapped in the mirror.

Now, however, he did feel a little stuck.

The attic was expansive but quite tight and empty. He had even knocked on every single floorboard to check for secret spaces. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but he had knocked on a decent sample.

Shadow fluttered his open button shirt to make the stuffy air bearable but the dust was just as much of an issue. He was dressed stylishly to pass as the real Sammy if he came across anyone at this late hour.

The air in the attic cooled rapidly and there was nothing more to do for him. Maybe there was something he had overlooked in the basement?

No, Shadow refused to be a tracking dog without so much as a scent to pick up. And the tapping of tiny bird feet from above was beginning to drive him crazy. Either he called it off for the night or... Maybe he was going about this the wrong way -- the human way.

Shadow was closer to his namesake than to a person. There were costs and benefits coming with the territory.

He closed his eyes and *felt*.

When Shadow stepped into a new environment it helped a great deal to have seen it before. That was why Sammy tended to visit locations Shadow later robbed. But it wasn't necessary.

Where there was darkness, there was a way. Orion, having been a ghost, would think similarly.

Shadow felt his way around the building. Eyes half closed, flashlight off, he walked along the attic, ducking under beams where necessary, and sensed for lightless spaces he could enter, that had no obvious entrance for people.

Crawlspace, vents, hidden compartments.

A minute later, Shadow appeared inside the library's wall paneling. An alcove that had been paneled-over flush with the surrounding. There was room to stand but nothing more. A person with Lazaro's pec-circumference wouldn't have been able to squeeze in.

Shadow let the flashlight wander, making sure he wasn't about to swallow spiders or stepping on somebody's skeleton.

A painting leaned on the wall. The proportions were as expected but it wasn't a portrait. A mushy blob of paint stood before a background of more defined but indistinct shapes.

The longer Shadow looked, the more it felt like he was looking at a severely blurred photograph. He snapped a picture with the phone borrowed from Sammy and crouched as much as the narrow space allowed.

There was a stack of notes. Should he take them? Read them?

It was documents about the Orion painting, of course. Official reports about selling and reselling, interspersed with notes from Alec.

A dawning realization crept up Shadow's back with a shiver. He smiled despite his sense of dread.

He had more in common with Orion than he had thought. Now he wasn't even sure he *wanted* to rid the world of the ancient bastard.

Shadow patted the picture frame, as if to calm it. Maybe he was better of making the old-timer his ally.

==========+++++==========

A featureless void. Like a room painted pitch black under diffuse light. Except there was no light source.

Sammy couldn't even tell if he was floating or standing on firm ground.

He was in black boxers, his tan skin slightly grayish under the ubiquitous non-light. He had gone to bed in this underwear. Right, he had just been in bed. Then how...

Shadow stood -- or hovered? -- beside him, wearing an open shirt and slacks like when he had left to search the manor.

"What's up?" Sammy said.

Shadow smirked and shrugged, neither of which were usually good signs. Normally Sammy would sigh and ask 'what did you steal this time?' but this was a rather abnormal situation.

"Fuck yeah," came a voice from behind. "Please tell me it worked. Can you seen me?"

Both handsome young men turned, not used to navigating this non-space where physical movement was a mere suggestion.

"Alec!" Sammy shouted.

The hunk was floating - or standing? - before the darkness. He was naked, save for his septum piercing, and fully erect.

Something like faded tribal tattoos ran up both his arms and spilled onto his chest.

"Uh," Alec made. "Why is there two of you?"

Sammy pointed. "He's my mirror double. Twisted and callous but cooperative. Long story. Jasper recruited us to find you. Which we did. Except... where..."

Shadow gave an exaggerate sigh. "Library. Seventh panel from the lobby entrance. I was going to see if I can play double agent but I guess the cat is out of the bag."

"Double agent?" Sammy said. "So much for 'cooperative'."

"Hey," Alec said, irritated. "I managed to drag you in here because you found me but it's taking a lot out of me so shut up and listen. I've been trying to do Orion's trick of manifesting outside, as phantom hands, feet, eyes, or anything. Pointless. It must have taken him centuries to leave the painting and even if I could I don't have the fine control. So all I can do is warn you."

Shadow grinned unsettlingly. "He's like me. Orion, I mean. He's twisted like a mirror-twin."

Alec huffed and folded his arms over his chest, making pecs and biceps bulge. His dick was still hard.

"I guess I didn't need to warn you."

"You *did*," Sammy said. "My 'twin' was going hold out on me, weren't you?"

"Hey," Shadow said. "I was just going to see where I can get the better deal for both of us."

"There's something ominous about this painting," Alec said. "I can fend it off, trivially. But I don't see myself winning this tug of war if you give me a few weeks in here, let alone centuries. Orion has long been corrupted."

Sammy saluted. "I'll report as much. Anything else we can do?"

"Um," Alec made and let his hands drop to his crotch. "I've been edging in here with nothing to do. Jasper mentioned you've recently... experimented with guys?"

Sammy was going to respond but Shadow just grabbed Sammy's hair and shoved him down onto Alec's dick.

Sammy took a deep breath and swallowed as much of the rod as he could, about halfway down.

Alec groaned. "Fuck. I like your twin's thinking."

Shadow had one hand in his pants while continuously pushing Sammy farther onto the dick.

"I just got really horny," Shadow said. "That's all. Wait, you used your siren voice on us, didn't you, asshole?"

"Assuming it works in here, yes. Hehe."

Sammy looked up through tear-filled eyes to see Alec smirk. Then he gagged and focused on cocksucking again.

"Good boy," Alec said. "Even in your dreams you're a filthy little slut, huh?"

Once out of his boxers, Sammy fingered his own hole. Since when did do that? He wasn't a dick-rider. Was Alec's voice that strong?

Then he noticed something. With a cough and some ugly retching, Sammy pulled off the thick cock.

"I don't need lube," the original Mondragon said. "In dream-space, in this painting or whatever, I just glide as I please."

"Hop on," Alec said and just those two words made Sammy's hole flex with anticipation. Fuck, this male siren was too powerful. Not that he was really opposed to fucking a hunk this worthy.

Sammy jumped into Alec's arms, legs crossed over Alec's thick glutes. Held tight, Sammy felt Shadow line up the rod with his hole.

In the non-space, there was no such thing as being 'in the air' so Sammy's weight carried itself as if he was sitting firmly on the ground while hanging onto the hunk. That made everything easier.

Alec sat him down and Sammy groaned as the whole cock's length slid in without resistance.

Sammy jerked himself off but Alec pushed his hand away. With a frown, Sammy looked at the happily masturbating Shadow, but Alec gripped his neck and pulled him into a deep stare as he thrust into Sammy's hole, testing the limits of a lubeless void-fuck.

The sex wasn't truly satisfying, it was only a dream after all, but shivers still shot through Sammy was Alec rammed into him harder and harder, ever more desperate.

On his last stroke, Alec's eyes rolled into his head as he leaned back, groan-shouting. He let go but Sammy didn't fall. Gravity was a mere suggestion here.

The bottom felt the expansion of a load at the tip of Alec's cock deeper inside him than his few previous male partners had ever reached.

==========+++++==========

It was half pull, half fall.

Samuel Mondragon woke up with the sensation of getting slammed into his bed.

He was naked and struggled in the meager light coming from Raven's Hollow outside his window.

The bedside lamp revealed his boxers next to him and his royal blue satin sheets soiled with a trail of cum. As he moved to rise, a cum blob squirted from his hole and splattered over his legs.

Laughter from behind disoriented him.

Shadow was carelessly dropping his clothing, back already turned to Samuel and stepped away.

The Mirror of Janus leaned inside the open cupboard where he had failed to fit even half his fashion items.

"Wait," Sammy said and pointed at his erection. "You're not helping me with that?"

Shadow barely shrugged. "Already came. If it's not a mutual suck, I'm not sticking around, cum slut."

He vanished in the mirror and Sammy didn't hesitate to jerk off. He kept his legs spread and his hole pointed at the mirror, looking past his dick at his mirror image. Both to enjoy his own, highly appealing body and to give Shadow a taste of what the selfish 'twin' was missing.

He didn't know if the mirror even worked that way. Shadow claimed not to really exist once he was in there, but Sammy jerked off to his own reflection often enough not to care much.

==========+++++==========

Jasper had been handed the perfect opportunity to scheme toward his ancestor's downfall -- all thanks to the irresistible allure of peperoni.

After spending four hundred years as a twisted, ethereal phantom, Orion Raven was eager to experience the delights of north pacific cuisine and the great variety of other options only modern life could afford.

On his third day after return to the physical world, he had developed a seemingly insatiable appetite for pizza and, frankly, Jasper had to concur. Toscano's Oven was the best place in town.

And while Orion had been content ordering in so far, he was finally willing to leave -- provided Mordecai accompanied him. The time-traveling 'uncle' was strangely fond of grandfather's company. Perhaps modernity was a bit too much all at once.

"Can you see?" Jasper asked, stepping away from the phone on a tripod atop a drawer.

Lazaro on the screen squinted briefly. "Yes, that'll do. I can't really help if this goes wrong, but... it shouldn't."

Jasper turned to his two present allies. "Ready?"

Kamron had his arms crossed and looked apprehensive but had made no objections thus far. The Asian concierge in navy turned to their final conspiracy member.

"Sammy? Did your great-great-whatever grandma get... changed by the mirror?"

The handsome man with a dangling sliver earring and a taupe suit vest shrugged. "According to Alphonso's notes, no. She was exactly the same, just without the curse that stayed with the mirror clone. Only people who aren't afflicted by any dark shit get a twisted version out."

"Which one was the original purpose of the mirror? Making evil clones, or getting rid of supernatural disease?"

Sammy cocked his head but kept his smile up. "No clue. Both, neither. Since the twisted twin isn't permanent, I'd guess that one's a side effect. Pure conjecture, though."

Jasper held the Mirror of Janus up to the bed. "Oof, kinda heavy on my own."

Kamron came to his aid and they held the mirror over the pen-venom-stricken body of Gus Bennet. The unmoving, alchemically halted man was shirtless, his black-veined arms easy to see.

The overcast sky outside darkened further, leaving the oak paneled room with an oppressive atmosphere. Sammy turned on the light, startling a raven on the windowsill and sending it into the trees to its roosting companions.

The two hotel employees moved the mirror facing down over Gus' body in a slow rhythm. No unconscious person had ever been mirror-copied, so success was far from certain.

In the corner of Jasper's eyes, strange reflections, like the sparkling of late sun on a pond, danced over Gus, but vanished when he looked directly at them.

They fruitlessly 'waved' the Janus artefact for a minute until their arms grew tired.

"Look away," Lazaro said out of the phone. "He's not just sleeping, he's in a coma. Your presences are overpowering his mind."

"It's facing him," Jasper said.

"It's a mirror," Lazaro answered. "But it's a kind of 'mind' as well. We don't know how it chooses, how it 'sees'."

He switched to voice-only while Jasper and Kamron looked up. Sammy turned away, staring out the window at the small town's swaying evergreens and the dark birds circling overhead.

Something dropped on the mattress.

The concierges glanced at each other and dared to look down.

"Fuck, it worked," Jasper said.

Setting the mirror down, facing the wall, the trio surrounded the two sleeping men on the bed. The one laying where the first Gus had been, was now clean of ink-marks. At his side was an identical body, still marred by the poison.

Within a minute, the cleansed Gus stirred. Halting drought counted as a dark infestation and had been removed from the original upon 'cloning', it seemed.

Gus blinked and flinched to life as he saw three men staring down on him.

He sat up and swung his legs off the bed before reaching for his temples with a groan.

"Ughhh," he said with a scratchy morning voice. "Got up too fast. Fuck me."

"Careful what you wish for, big guy," Sammy said. Jasper chuckled. He liked this new and gayer Sammy a lot.

"You... you healed me?" Gus asked, looking up at Jasper.

"Pretty much. I had help. Welcome back to life, Sleeping Beauty."

"How long..."

Japer handed the CEO his phone, which he had charged out of courtesy.

Gus started scrolling through his many missed messages and emails. Jasper expected the business ones were taken care of by Corry and the private ones would just be wishing him a speedy recovery from 'his stay in the hospital', but Jasper knew if *he* had missed time he'd also want to check in.

Sammy settled into a wing chair while Kamron leaned at the wall by the reversed mirror.

Gus downed an offered bottle of water as he scanned how much he had missed. Eventually he put the phone aside and rose, pulling Jasper into a tight hug.

"Thank you. I'm sorry I didn't say that right away, but... It only just sank in. You've done so much for me. I'm paying for the time in the room of course. If there's anything else, I can do, let me know."

Jasper was about to wave him off about the money but Gus turned around and his eyes fell on his 'twin'.

"Holy shit!"

"Hehe yeah," Jasper said, rubbing the shaved back of his head. "We had to *trick* the disease from leaving you so we made a double. Once my potion wears off, the poison will claim it."

"Is it alive?"

"Uh, no, it's a fake," Jasper said and assumed he was lying. "How good are you feeling?"

"I mean," Gus patted down his shirtless torso and sweatpants-clad legs. "Wouldn't run a marathon but I'm rested. Why?"

"Somebody's going to have to bury the double. I know it's got to be creepy as fuck to put something with your face six feet under but we can't go through regular corpse disposal. Normally, I'd ask a certain Lady in Black for help but she's out for complicated reasons."

He wet his thumb with a bottle of herb-infused vinegar and stepped up to the not-yet-corpse. He drew a vinegar Ankh on the double's forehead and spoke quietly, "What the living shan't see, my eyes heed."

"What was that about?" Kamron asked.

"A little trick I taught him," came Lazaro's voice from the drawer. He was on camera again. "It lets you know when the person expires without having to be present."

"Cool beans," Gus said, sounding somewhere between chipper and panicked. "So... gonna put my twin in the ground. Anything else? Embalm him? Do I, like, drag him out here in a potato bag?"

"Hm..." Jasper made. Perhaps he was overwhelming the stranger who had only learned about this side of life -- from his own perspective -- a mere day ago.

Kamron pushed himself off the wall. "Better we wait till it's really dark. I mean, you can start *digging* immediately but we can't drag the double out back now. There's staff and guests roaming the halls.

Gus nodded with his whole torso and clapped his hands as if to hype himself up. "I'll... find a spot."

Jasper lightly pushed him away from the bed. "You can bury it in the garden, actually. Somewhere between the peripheral trees. Wouldn't even be the first skeleton in our backyard. Long story, before my time. We have to keep it a secret from everybody but maybe one of us here can help you out if time allows."