by Jamie Craig
The text beneath the first photograph provided names and identities. The girl with the black hair was Anna, and the girl closest to Gideon was called Maggie. The boy closest to Gideon was Sam, and the fourth member of the party was identified as George. Nobody had last names or ages. They looked younger than ever to Jesse in the bright light, though he didn’t place them much below eighteen.
Jesse flipped through the pages slowly, taking his time to study the details of each one. He was forced to unzip his pants when Gideon began appearing fully nude. He felt like he might have been doing something a little wrong—this was not supposed to be wanking material. But Gideon’s body had always had a strong effect on him, and the new ability to admire, worship, kiss, and touch that body didn’t dampen his immediate reaction to the sight of it. If anything, it made the reaction stronger, quicker.
He turned to the picture that had caught his attention before. He saw now that Sam was the one in the photo, and he was gripping his ankles, the tips of his hair brushing against the ground. Both Sam and Gideon were in profile, and Gideon’s cock was stiff, acting like a bridge to link Sam’s slim body with Gideon’s much broader frame. Gideon was holding his hips, possibly to keep from knocking him over.
It was far too easy to imagine himself in Sam’s place. Curious, he went to the next page, and it was the same pose, only Gideon’s cock was half into his ass. In the third image, Gideon was fully seated. Jesse took his cock in hand, stroking himself slowly, trying to ease the sudden throbbing, and he immediately realized his own hand wasn’t going to be enough.
He was still sore from the night before, but he desperately wanted Gideon’s cock. He never took his eyes from the book. Was this the first time Gideon had fucked Sam, or had it been a regular occurrence? Did Gideon fuck him slowly? Or had it been the more punishing pace that he used with Jesse?
Jess ran his palm over his tip, gathering the thick drops of pre-come and smearing it over the head. He rotated his wrist, circling his cock with his palm, spreading more and more of the clear fluid. He set the book aside, but kept the page open, his other hand moving between his thighs to gently squeeze and pull on his balls.
He reached over, turning the pages back to the one with Gideon sucking George’s cock. He focused on George’s face. Something like pure bliss colored it, and his eyes were open, focused on Gideon, adoring. Not that Jesse blamed the guy. He probably had a similar look when Gideon got between his legs. He began stroking himself, moving his hand in long, quick jerks.
In the past, most of his fantasies had been reserved for Gideon, but now it was different. Instead of wondering what it would feel like to have his cock buried in Gideon’s throat, he could recall every detail, every touch, every bit of pressure and subtle shift of Gideon’s tongue. Instead of wondering if Gideon would tie him up, he knew to expect chains and a leash. Instead of imagining just how far Gideon would be willing to go with him, he felt the phantom memory of the whip on his shoulders and back.
He moved his arm faster, shaking the couch with his effort. The pages fell backward, until the final one was staring back at Jess. He’d have to stop to flip the photos back, or close the book entirely, and he didn’t want to stop. His thighs tensed, his back straightened, and he looked away from the book at the last moment before he climaxed.
“Last night wasn’t enough for you?”
Everything in him jerked at the sound of Gideon’s voice, and Jess scrambled to try and tuck himself away as he shifted to see Gideon standing in the doorway. His hair was wet, plastered to his forehead, as was his dark shirt to his muscled chest. There were fresh scratches scored down his cheek, and mud stained the cuffs of his pants. Something had happened. The question was what.
Gideon’s eyes flickered to the book lying open at Jesse’s side, and his brows drew together slightly. “What are you looking at?”
Jesse wiped his hands on his pants before closing the book. He didn’t know what he felt more awkward about. The fact that he had been getting himself off while Gideon was out getting drenched and scratched, or what he was getting himself off to. “It’s a book,” he said lamely. “Michelle…gave it to me.”
“Michelle’s dealing in porn now?”
“Not dealing in it, no. But it seems she’s got quite the impressive collection in the basement.” He stood and held the book out to Gideon. “It’s not so much porn as her idea of a warning.”
Jess studied Gideon closely, gauging his every reaction. There was the moment of hesitation before Gideon took the text. There was the brush of his thumb over the spine when he tilted it to look for the title. There was the lowering of his lashes as he simply regarded the cover before handing it back, unopened.
“I hope you didn’t get anything on the pages,” he commented. “It’s one of a kind.”
“Please, Gideon. You know me better than that.” He held the book loosely at his side. “Did you have it made?”
“No. It was never mine. I was just asked to…” He paused, his eyes inscrutable as he searched for the word he wanted. “…contribute.”
Jesse nodded. “It was clearly somebody’s private volume. Did the other members know what they were contributing to?”
A longer pause. “No. We thought that would spoil the effect.”
“Do you think I should take it as the warning she intended?”
For the first time since being noticed, Gideon’s façade crumpled a bit. He ran his hand through his hair, pushing the wet strands off his brow, and then rolled his neck, as if to release tension. “What do you want me to say, Jess? You’ve known all along I have a past. You never seemed to have a problem with it before. Or last night. Or hell, even now.” He took a sudden step forward, entering Jesse’s personal space and leaning in to sniff at his neck. “Do you have any idea what you smell like? This moment, right after you’ve come, this is when you smell the most delicious. Because your blood is still hot, and your heart is still racing, and all I want is to tear into your throat and ass until you bleed even more. So you tell me. Is it a warning or not?”
Jesse’s mouth ran dry, and even though most of his instincts screamed at him to back off, he took a step closer. “I don’t have a problem with your past. I never have. I’m more worried about what you’re doing now.” He tilted his head, exposing his neck further. “I more or less told Michelle to mind her own business. But I would like to know what the difference for you is between me and them.”
He felt the brush of Gideon’s nose against his skin the moment before Gideon cupped a hand around the back of his neck and held him utterly still.
“The difference is knowing when to stop and then caring enough to actually do it.” When Gideon snaked his tongue around the shell of Jesse’s ear, a shiver ran down Jess’ spine. “Even when I know how badly you want it.”
Jesse clutched Gideon’s shirt with one hand, his other hand sneaking between their bodies to cup Gideon’s erection. “I’m glad one of us knows when to stop,” he murmured. “Because sometimes I do want it.”
Gideon snorted. “I’m beginning to wonder if your definition of sometimes is the same as Webster’s.” Carefully, he folded his hands over Jesse’s and peeled them off, pushing him away at the same time. “I came up because I found Tricia. I thought you’d want to know.”
Jesse blinked stupidly, his brain still three steps back, fixated on Gideon’s mouth so close to his neck. “Tricia? You brought her here?” Saying her name seemed to help. “Are the scratches courtesy of her?
Gideon nodded. “She tried making a dash for it when I was dragging her ass back out to the car. Let’s say she’s not exactly thrilled about being here.”
“No, I can’t imagine she would be.” Jesse put the book away on a high shelf. “I want to come up and hear what she has to say.”
“I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
Jesse immediately wanted to protest that Gideon couldn’t shield him from half of the investigation, but he was tired of that particular song and da
nce routine. “Gideon, I’m going to need every bit of information I can get to identify the ingredients in the elixir. I doubt you’re going to be able to keep track of every tiny, seemingly insignificant detail, but I can.”
“You can,” Gideon conceded. “But do you really want to watch me strip the skin from Tricia to get it? And be honest, Jess. This isn’t about sex. This is about watching me use every means in my power to get her to talk, because right now, she’s more scared of Henry than me. I have to change her way of thinking.”
No, he really didn’t. Gideon had always kept him from the interrogations, and Jesse had always been happy not to press the issue. But they had never had a case that frightened him like this. At least one person was dead, but Jesse did not doubt for a second that the body count was much higher than that. He would have been dead if Gideon had wanted to kill him more than he wanted to fuck him. And the elixir he had carefully stored away was like a ticking time bomb, silently counting down the seconds to the moment when all their efforts would be made futile.
“I don’t want to see it, Gideon. But I don’t want to start finding more mutilated and brutalized corpses, either. Getting the information I need is more important than protecting my delicate sensibilities.”
A small smile lifted the corner of Gideon’s mouth. “Delicate is not a word I would ever use to describe you.” He paused. “Promise you won’t intervene in any way.”
“I’m just going to observe, Gideon, I promise. This is entirely your deal, and I’m happy to keep it that way.”
Gideon was nodding before he finished speaking. “All I’ve been able to get from her so far is that she’s been hiding from Henry ever since Toby’s death. That’s why she hasn’t been around Sangre. The question is why.”
Jesse thought the answer to that was obvious—fear. They didn’t need to look at the why, they needed to worry about the what. What monster scared the monsters? “Let me wash up and get my notebook. I can meet you upstairs.”
He watched Gideon turn and leave, and promptly did the same. The soft sound of his name being called out made him stop.
“What’s the difference between me now and the me in the book?” Gideon’s eyes were dark and solemn, fixed so intently on him that it felt like an embrace. “For you, Jess.”
“You want to do good now. I don’t believe you would kill four innocent people for the sake of somebody’s private…art…collection. I’m not saying that you couldn’t, but you wouldn’t.” Jesse half shrugged. That wasn’t the largest difference. The vampire in the book was a face, a body, and an act, but he wasn’t the man Jesse had spent the last two years with. “The difference is that you’re my friend.”
The answer seemed to satisfy Gideon, and he turned again to go upstairs.
“Gideon?” He paused, looking over his shoulder. “Do you mind if I keep the book?”
“Truth? Yeah, I mind. I don’t much…like the man in that book. But I trust you meant what you said. So if you want to keep it, I’ll deal.” A ghost of a smile haunted his face. “Besides, I know how fucking hot most of those pictures are. I can’t say I can blame you for wanting to keep ‘em around.”
“Fair enough. Maybe we’ll just have to replace them with our own pictures some time,” Jesse suggested as Gideon disappeared upstairs.
Glancing at the book, he smiled wryly. He was sure whatever Michelle intended to happen, it wasn’t this sort of discussion and negotiation. But then, she wouldn’t have believed a word Gideon said anyway. He did, though. Every single one. Sometimes, that felt like asking for trouble. But now it felt like the right thing to do.
Chapter 12
If he’d given Tricia much thought, she would have been exactly as Gideon would have expected someone like Toby Richards to date. She was California pretty, with plush curves and a too-sharp fashion sense. Her long blonde hair was bleached a lighter shade than was natural, and her pale skin was flawless, though now, there were faint bruises on her face where Gideon had held his hand over her mouth. Gideon wasn’t sure if even Jess would be able to tell she was a vampire when she wasn’t fanged out. She passed that well.
At the moment, she glared at him with yellow eyes, her arms stretched over her head from where he had her suspended from the ceiling. The chains he used were heavier duty than he’d used on Jesse to accommodate her superior strength, but Tricia was making few attempts to actually get away. She simply watched him, waiting for him to make the first move.
Jesse was watching as well. It was taking all of Gideon’s control not to glance at where Jess sat in the corner. He had the perfect vantage to hear what Tricia might say, but that also put him in the position to see as well. There were reasons why Gideon had always conducted interrogations in private, not the least of which was he didn’t wish to add further fodder for nightmares for his best friend. Now, his motivation was more selfish. This showed Gideon at his basest to the man now in his bed. Gideon didn’t want what Jess might see to be cause for this new relationship to end before it began.
He blocked out everything but the purpose of his task. He needed information only Tricia could provide. It was time to get it.
Folding his arms over his chest, Gideon stood in front of her and held her gaze until she began squirming underneath it. “This doesn’t have to be so hard, you know,” he said, almost casually. “All you have to do is answer my questions.”
Tricia’s eyes hardened, and her words dripped with disdain. “What do you think you can do to me?”
He refused to indulge his amusement by responding. Instead, Gideon turned on his heel and walked back to his cupboard, his gaze flickering only once to Jess. Whether Jess was aware of it or not, his heart rate jumped with every step closer Gideon got. There wasn’t any arousal, though. Thank God. Gideon wasn’t sure he’d be able to go through with this, with Jess in the room, if Jess watched the entire interrogation steeped with desire.
Tricia’s eyes widened when Gideon returned to stand in front of her with a long stiletto. She had no time to speak before the knife sliced her sundress from her body. He wasn’t surprised that she wore nothing underneath, or that her nipples hardened as soon as they were exposed to the warm air.
“Last chance to do this the easy way,” he said.
Her eyes were full of loathing. “Hit me with your best shot.”
He shrugged. Nobody ever listened when he offered the easy way.
This time when he came back from the cupboard, Gideon held a stoppered bottle of clear fluid. Sucking some into the pipet, he touched the wet tip to the flesh above her right nipple and squeezed to release it over the hard tip. Immediately, her skin began to sizzle and smoke, and Gideon stepped back to gauge her reaction.
“Gotta love holy water,” he commented. “Well, I do, at least.”
Tricia writhed in the heavy chains, trying to move away from him, but she couldn’t get far. Her gaze flickered over the room and her nostrils flared. “Who’s your pet?”
Gideon refrained from glancing back at Jess. “Well, it’s good to know that Henry’s still picking his girls based on their cup size and not their IQ. I ask you the questions, not the other way around. Who killed Toby Richards?”
“Who?”
He shook his head in disappointment before stepping forward again. “Deaf, too. That’s a shame.” Filling the pipet to its limit, Gideon held it over the left nipple, his eyes unwavering from hers as he let it drip over the puckered flesh.
“Fuck. Fuck, fuck.” She tried to twist away again. “Why the fuck do you care?”
“Don’t you think somebody ought to?”
She reeled back as though he’d slapped her face. “Fuck you.”
His foot shot out, catching the spreader bar he’d placed between her ankles and dragging her close to him again. “I guess if Toby was just a pet, you might not care so much,” Gideon commented.
Her gaze darted to the glass tube in the bottle as it slowly filled with more holy water and followed it as Gideon reached between her legs
. Everything in her froze as he inserted the slim cylinder into her pussy, and for the first time since getting her in chains, Gideon caught a whiff of her fear.
“Who killed Toby Richards?” he asked again, the pipet poised in anticipation of her response.
Tricia didn’t answer immediately, and he let a small trickle of water escape the thin tube. Tears filled her eyes, but they never lost the glint of anger. “I did,” she whispered.
Though a flash of satisfaction surged through him, Gideon neither reacted nor moved his hand away. “Why?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know.” Before he released another trickle of water, she added quickly. “Please, I don’t know. I don’t…I don’t remember.”
“Guess what?” Gideon said softly. “Pleading amnesia didn’t work for Rudolf Hess, either.”
When he released another measure of holy water, her screams of pain echoed against the playroom walls.
“I don’t remember,” she sobbed. “I don’t remember any of it. I would never have hurt Toby. Ever.”
The tears streaming down her face were a nice touch, Gideon thought. But he held still as he asked, “And why should I believe that? He was just your pet, right? You even took him to Sangre to pass around.”
She shook her head from side to side, reminding him of a horse. “You would know something about that, wouldn’t you?”
Tricia wasn’t going to get to him that easily. “Do you at least remember how you left him?” he asked, ignoring her gibe. “The coroner counted over two dozen fresh puncture wounds, including the ones in his balls. You popped those like a ripe peach apparently. Tell me. Did they taste good?”
“I don’t remember.” She was sobbing again. “I don’t remember. I don’t even remember taking it that night. I wasn’t touching the stuff.”
The soft intake of Jesse’s breath behind him made Gideon pause. She had to be talking about obsidian. It was an even more graphic reminder of how dangerous the drug could be.
