by Quil Carter
“Your slip of the tongue will cost you, Keluva,” Kheva snarled. Kel was cowered, his arms crossed over his face. Sasha’s heart filled with empathy when he heard fearful whimpers, like a beaten dog with nowhere to hide from its master’s discipline. “You know better! I taught you better, you dumbfuck retard.”
“I’m sorry!” Kel cried. “I said it before I realized it was bad. I’m sorry.”
“Why?” Kheva spat. His arm shot to Kel’s neck like it was made of lightning, and he wrapped his hand around it. “That shouldn’t be in the front of your mind, Keluva. Why was it there?”
Fuck. Sasha swore inside of his head. Kel might not know the answer, but he did. It was at the fronts of his head because of Rob. All of this was fucking because of the conversation they’d had… that’s why Kel had said it off-handed.
And now Kel was getting the shit beat out of him, through no fault of his own.
On the night his master came home… which he’d been euphoric about.
“Tell that fucking bastard to show himself!” Kheva suddenly snarled, his fists flying. “If he’s in there kicking up trouble, you fucking tell me, Keluva Swift!”
“He isn’t!” Kel sobbed, blood was now pouring from his nose; Kheva’s knuckles were smudged with it. Sasha could see spots on the damn couch. “I haven’t seen him, Master. I’d tell you if I did!”
“You fucking little liar!” Kheva roared.
Sasha couldn’t take it anymore. “Kheva, stop!” he cried. He drew up Kheva’s brilliant beacon as he ran over, a coil of static and painful electricity, and attempted to calm it. “Stop, Master, he’s not lying. I would’ve told you. Look inside of my fucking head. There’s been nothing!” He grabbed Kheva’s arm, wondering with dread if he’d just made a lethal mistake.
Kheva stopped, his chest heaving and the clammy arm in Sasha’s grasp trembling. Kel was below, whimpering and crying with his face and neck covered in blood.
Rage was radiating off of Kheva, white-hot rage that Sasha’s own abilities could barely cool. He was livid, that emotion was right out there for all to see, but Sasha knew that buried deep down… there must be others.
What were they? Embarrassment? Fear? There was no way to tell, Kheva had had them barred and hidden for years.
“Please, Master,” Sasha whispered. He eased his own calming presence against Kheva’s beacon and loosened his grip on his hand. “He was so excited to see you, don’t do this to him. It’s Kel… you above everyone else knows how his mind works.”
For a moment, a brief moment, Sasha thought he’d done it; that he’d calmed down the fiery beast that burned inside of Kheva.
For only a moment, he thought he’d done the impossible.
Until Kheva ripped his arm away from Sasha, and smacked him so hard Sasha was spun backwards.
He stumbled back and tripped over the head of the bear rug, then fell down onto the hardwood floor. With his cheek stinging and throbbing, Sasha looked up and saw Kheva towering over him, a Titan in the midst of the smallest ant.
“You dare use your abilities against me?” the demon said, his voice cold fire.
A current of electricity raced through Sasha, turning the heat up on his blood until he was sure steam was rising off of his skin. “N-no,” he stammered and tried to back away from Kheva. “I was just trying to – trying to… stop you from hurting him.” It wasn’t the right answer, every class of fool could see that, but what else could he say? When the Master asked you a question, you gave an answer.
Even if it was the wrong answer.
“You think I need calming?” Kheva said in a low growl, and with every shuffle Sasha took backwards, Kheva’s feet stepped forward. “You believe you have power over me now, don’t you?”
Sasha stared up at Kheva, struck dumb by his words. That hadn’t even entered his head; he just felt badly for Kel.
Can’t you see that? Sasha said inside of head. He scanned it for Kheva’s presence but felt nothing. Kheva wasn’t there––or he didn’t care.
“You dumb little nightcrawler,” Kheva whispered, and when Sasha’s back hit the wall in between the hallway and the flight of stairs, he closed the several feet of distance. “I will remind you who your master is.”
Like Kel had just done, Sasha threw his hands up over his face to try and shield himself from the oncoming assault. Kheva’s hand rained blow after blow, a closed fist on his body, but an open palm on his face and head; they came one after another, blood soon bursting into Sasha’s mouth and flying from his nose, until Sasha temporarily lost consciousness and fell backwards onto the stairs.
The next came the agonizing pain inside of his mind, the sensation that the spongey brain was a wrung washcloth that Kheva was wringing again and again. Unable to black out to escape the pain, Sasha could only scream, clawing and pulling at his hair, begging Kheva to stop as the Master ripped his mind apart looking for any shred of betrayal.
He tore into Sasha’s Silent Ground, a blazing ball of energy that burned you if you got close to it, he was relentless, not just the pain but the guttural feeling of being mentally raped. That your own personal thoughts and feelings were being consumed by a cannibalistic intruder.
Sasha cried, and there wasn’t enough of himself present to be embarrassed by it. He openly cried, a bleeding huddled mass on the floor, before the blood running down the back of his throat had him gasping and coughing.
In the background, he saw Kel, huddled and small like himself, a whimpering, crying husk, and in front of him was the Master, finally pulling out of his mind like he was ripping himself out dry.
The pain was nothing compared to the fear and despair Sasha felt, and not just that, he felt alone and unwanted. More than anything, he wanted to go home to Lex and Jobe; he wanted to be held, he wanted to be loved. Not alone and shaking in front of the stairs.
He was so alone––so devastatingly alone.
Then an idea, one that had either been hiding, or just newly born, timidly crawled out of the decimation of Kheva’s attack.
Sasha retreated from his own mind to the reality around him. He could hear Kel whimpering, and Kheva’s rough breathing from his physical attacks on the two of them. There was also the unmistakable sound of his own coughing, the blood he was choking on burning his throat as he tried to force it down to his stomach instead of his lungs, but every time he swallowed, more was there for him to choke on.
When Kheva moved towards him, Sasha flinched back, expecting a new series of blows. Instead though, Kheva began to walk up the stairs.
Sasha closed his eyes tight. “I need you,” he whimpered. And to his own guilt and shame, he realized as those words left his bleeding lips, that there weren’t only ulterior motives inside of those words… there was truth as well.
The thought of Kheva leaving them, leaving Sasha alone for the rest of the evening in both mental and physical agony was devastating. He couldn’t be alone with his own thoughts, with the pain he knew would keep him awake. Kheva couldn’t just leave him. He was Sasha’s master… and Sasha needed him in that moment.
Kel was used to this; Sasha wasn’t. Kel knew what to do in these situations, but Sasha didn’t.
He said if I needed him… even if it was he who hurt me… he’d be there.
And I need you, Master. Don’t leave me alone.
To Sasha’s surprise, Kheva stopped, the pant leg of his black jeans visible. He stayed there for a moment, before saying in a deadpan tone, “Get up.” Then he carried on up the stairs.
Sasha rose on shaking legs. He grasped onto the railing and steadied himself, then began to walk up the stairs. When he was halfway up, he turned around, and there was a flame of relief when he saw that Kel was cloaked. His eyes were staring into nothing, and no longer was he crying.
Leaving a trail of breadcrumb blood drops, Sasha followed Kheva to the top of the stairs, then to the bedroom.
And Sasha noticed that Kheva never got too far ahead… he was always in range and Sasha knew it w
as because he didn’t want Sasha to fall.
“Get into bed,” Kheva said.
Sasha nodded, and Kheva tossed sleeping clothes onto the blue and back comforter as Sasha changed. Kheva then disappeared into the bathroom for a moment, and he came back with gauze and a tea mug full of warm water.
Appreciation swelled inside of Sasha. Kheva was going to help him; he cared.
Kheva really cared about him.
After Kheva had changed into his own sleeping clothes, he sat down on the bed cross-legged and faced Sasha who was doing the same. Then, with gentle strokes, he began to clean the blood off of Sasha’s face, occasionally rinsing the red-stained gauze in the warm water.
The water stung his injuries, he’d put antiseptic into it. Sasha’s timid heart only filled more at this realization, but his shoulders were still slouched and his stature cowered.
When Kheva was finished cleaning his injuries, he began to put band aids on the worst of them. Most of the wounds on him had been from blunt hits, nothing requiring more than a band aid and none of them needing stitches. Kheva could’ve hit him a lot worse than he did… but he didn’t.
The feelings that were sprouting up in the ashes of Sasha’s happiness were confusing. He was scared for Jobe and Lex, terrified that they were in danger, but yet, he was feeling drawn towards Kheva. He wanted his master to give him the security and comfort he needed after such a horrible beating… and he felt like shit over it.
But just because he was feeling like a traitor, that didn’t erase the emotions. Sasha needed Kheva in that moment, and that was no false front to reach a greater goal.
“I’m sorry,” Sasha whispered when Kheva was placing a band aid below Sasha’s ear.
Kheva was quiet for a moment, then he spoke in a low tone. “It is not your right to question any of my actions,” he said sternly. “Don’t do it again. Never interfere with my discipline of Keluva. You know nothing of what you were brushing upon and never will. If you do that again, your punishment will be worse because now you know better.”
Sasha took his words in and nodded. “I understand,” he said. “I just felt pity for him, especially since he’d been so excited for you to come home. I forgot myself.”
“Apology accepted,” Kheva said. He gathered the empty bandages and rose. “Turn off your night table light. It’s time for sleep.”
Time for sleep… Sasha’s heart pounded. Should he…? Was tonight really the night? Sasha’s insides squirmed. He knew he had to do it, but fuck… he had so many doubts.
But then, like a cold dose of reality, the image of Jobe’s naked and partially dismembered body lightly swinging back and forth shot into his head like an injection of colour into monotone. Rob had made it clear that Kheva would eventually go after Uncle Lex and Jobe, and the proof had been right in front of Sasha when Kheva killed Gavin.
Kheva was a murderer, a fucking serial killer actually. He might have his moments, there might be sparks of something in between the two of them… but when you cleared away the brush and brambles of confusion, the root of it was as plain as day––Jobe and Lex were in danger.
No question at all, they were in danger.
And in the end, that’s all Sasha needed to know.
Kheva returned, the master bedroom now dim and cozy. He walked to the small control panel beside the light switch and with a turn of a dial, the generator locked inside an almost sound-proof shed, shut down, and the house succumbed to quiet.
Kheva got under the covers and shifted around until he was comfortable, then there was silence.
Sasha gathered up his courage.
What was he supposed to do though? Grab him and kiss him? Something told Sasha Kheva would not like that. Ask him? That would be incredibly lame.
But what? How does someone usually initiate sex?
Sasha shifted over until he felt the warmth of Kheva’s leg, then with a dry swallow and his blood racing around in his veins, he drew a hand forward and rested it on Kheva’s thigh. He then stroked it slowly, and ran it up the curve of Kheva’s side to lay on his chest.
“Not tonight.”
Sasha’s hand retracted, embarrassment roasting him alive, he mumbled an apology and shifted away quickly.
Kheva, to further his humiliation, chuckled. “You really think you’re ready for such a thing?” he mused.
Sasha, his face hot and most likely beet-red, mumbled a rushed ‘I dunno’, then rolled over to his side so his back was to Kheva’s front. He then let the embarrassment continue to burn him to cinders, the fear and apprehension now a thousand miles away where no man could find them.
“I believe I’ll be the one to initiate it when it’s time, nightcrawler,” Kheva said behind him, a cold hand stroked Sasha’s neck, creating a shiver that spread like a broken ice flow all throughout Sasha’s body. “I won’t be needing your approval.”
Sasha, pouting more than anything now, said quietly, “You said you wouldn’t do it until I was ready.” He pulled his covers up to his neck, hoping Kheva would move his hand away but he didn’t. “I was letting you know I was ready.”
Kheva chuckled, his hand withdrawing, and Sasha drowned in his shame. “I remember what I said, and as your master, I also know when you’re ready. But duly noted.” There was a shifting, and Sasha felt Kheva’s body press into his. An arm was then edged underneath Sasha’s own, and Kheva pulled his body close. “You’re not looking for sex, you’re looking for reassurance like the beaten animal you are.” Sasha felt Kheva’s breath on his neck. “And there you have it. Now go to sleep.”
Sasha sighed, feeling comfort in the embrace. There had, of course, been ulterior motives to that initial advancement, but the more Sasha’s body relaxed under Kheva’s hold, the more he realized… a large part of it was also needed that comfort.
Kheva certainly did know him…
And here I am about to seek and rip out those horribly fucked up memories.
But what choice do I have? He’s nice now, but the meat in his freezer, these injuries on my body, Kel downstairs… they all tell the real story.
I have to do it.
For Lex and Jobe… I have to do it.
Sasha fell into a peaceful sleep, but that sleep didn’t last long. Some time, not too soon after drifting off, Sasha felt soft, yet cold lips kiss his neck, and the hand that had been by his chest begin to stroke it slowly.
Right away, Sasha’s eyes snapped opened and his heart seized. Kheva, sensing this, chuckled lowly and his lips gently closed around the cartilage of Sasha’s ear. “Scared, are we?” he said, amusement a shining line on each word. “You were so eager for me just an hour ago.”
An hour? Had he even slept? “I – I wasn’t expecting this,” Sasha said. A heat began to drown the automatic apprehension he’d experienced first-hand, and that heat was spreading quite quickly. “You made it sound like – sound like you didn’t want to tonight.”
“Mmm,” Kheva growled. He pushed on Sasha’s shoulder, urging him onto his back, then began to kiss Sasha’s neck. “I said I would be the one to initiate, did I not? I also said I’d be the one to tell when you were ready.” Sasha gasped when Kheva roughly clutched his groin, his cock already in the process of becoming stiff. “And to my surprise… you are ready.” Kheva kneaded the hardening flesh, before slipping off of the bed.
Sasha groaned and wiped a hand down his face. So many emotions were taking hold in that moment, and he didn’t know which ones he should hold onto. There was a powerful mixture of both fear and excitement, and they were at odds with each other over who got the dominant spot.
He was going to have sex with Kheva. Not rape––sex. There would be no excuses after this, he wasn’t going to be a virgin anymore.
There was the faintest rumble, followed by an almost invisible hum of electricity. Kheva had turned the generator on, and as he walked back to the bed, there was a click, and a single lamp resting on a long credenza that acted as their dresser, turned on.
And in its
low light was Kheva, wearing nothing but black boxer briefs and a smirk, standing over Sasha on the bed.
His body was… beautiful. Sasha had always known this, but it was as deadly as it was beautiful. Kheva’s body was muscular, but not overly so, his abs toned, his forearms with visible definition, and that V-shape on his hips that Sasha had always been attracted to in men.
Kheva had his own scars on him, but Sasha would be damned if those didn’t add to his attractiveness. Everything about this man’s body turned Sasha on, but the thing he was most drawn to… was Kheva’s mind.
“Remove your shirt,” Kheva said. He watched as Sasha quickly relieved himself of his white undershirt, and when the Master kneeled onto the king size bed, Sasha was waiting to grab his body to pull him in for a kiss.
There was nothing like kissing Kheva, absolutely nothing. The chemistry between them was electric, their minds fitting together like a jigsaw that had been split apart years ago.
This was for Lex and Jobe, Sasha kept saying to himself. That’s why I’m doing it.
But in the depths of darkness, past that dark corner they called Silent Ground, Sasha knew that that was only an excuse, right now… right now he thirsted for Kheva. He knew eventually reality would remind him of the cruel murderer that Kheva was, but currently he was fully in the grasp of this monster. Perhaps Kheva had some pheromone that Sasha was becoming drunk on, or maybe it was Sasha’s own hidden sexual appetite that he’d suppressed for years, he didn’t know.
All he knew was what he was feeling in the moment… and that feeling had him floating a mile high.
As their lips locked, moving with one anothers like a perfectly timed dance, their hands followed suit to explore each other’s bodies. Sasha was already familiar with Kheva’s body, but these new-found feelings had him thirst for every inch like he’d been lost at sea.
Sasha grabbed Kheva’s briefs and pulled them down, and an eye opened to watch the Master’s hard cock pop out, ready and calling for attention. Unable to resist, Sasha’s hand went right for it, the hot flesh accepting his touch without question.
