Need

by Todd Gregory

  “How is he different from Jared?” that horrible voice jeered inside of my head again. “How is what they are doing to this kid—and to Blaine—any different from what you did to Jared ? You didn’t kill him, but you took his life away from him. He can never go back to his life, now, can he? Remember Tori, his fiancée? Right now she is sitting by her phone, waiting for it to ring, hoping against hope that Jared is going to turn up alive, that he isn’t lying in a shallow grave somewhere. Tori has a very vivid imagination.”

  “Maybe that’s true, but that doesn’t make this right.”

  I closed my eyes and struggled to get the power to settle and subside. Somehow I knew that it wasn’t yet time.

  But I hoped that it would be before either of them were hurt in any way.

  “Aren’t you happy?” Nico’s voice danced with delight, and I turned to look at him, forcing a smile onto my lips so he would think I was pleased, hiding my utter revulsion. “I got him for you,” Nico went on as I turned back to stare down into the pit. “I know you were attracted to him, but you never got a chance to do anything about it. Now, once he is finished with that boy, you can drink from him and his body is yours for the taking.” He licked his lips, his eyes glittering. “He is quite a specimen, isn’t he? Maybe you’ll share him with me before you completely drain him?”

  I wanted to kill him, grab him and pull him into my arms, sink my teeth into his neck and drink his oh-so-sweet blood until his body was nothing more than an empty husk in my hands.

  Instead, I managed to push that urgent desire aside and say, in a low, lusty whisper, “Of course I will. After you’ve given me so much, Nico? How could I not share him with you, my love?”

  I somehow managed not to choke on the words, and his reaction to them only deepened my contempt. He practically danced in place, licking his lips as he looked down at Blaine’s masculine beauty.

  I didn’t look back down at the two humans. Instead, I looked around at all the witches standing around the lip of the pit and wondered how many times some kind of similar competition had taken place for their entertainment. I closed my eyes and could almost hear the death screams of dozens of men and some women echoing out of the pit. It was a place of evil, haunted by death, drenched in the blood of so many.

  This had been Sebastian’s coven, and these had been his witches. I wondered if they had been evil to begin with, or had he infected them?

  Regardless, they were all evil now, and they had to be destroyed.

  As much as I despised Lorenzo, hated sharing the very same air he breathed, his angelic-looking twin was far worse, even more twisted and dark in his soul. Lorenzo wore his evil proudly like a badge, but Nico? He pretended to be something other than what he truly was, while he sat in the shadows moving pieces on his dark chessboard.

  Sebastian had never truly been the witchmaster; he had merely thought himself to be their leader all the while dancing as Nico pulled his strings.

  As Lorenzo danced even now, not knowing his twin was planning his death.

  There was no sound other than the wind in the trees and the crackling of the burning torches.

  And again, I sensed something terribly familiar, getting closer. I somehow knew that it was neither Nigel nor Rachel, but the familiarity . . . I sniffed the air again. There was a faint scent in the air, a scent that I knew all too well.

  Jean-Paul and Clint were near, certainly near enough for me to catch their scent in the air.

  I tried not to smile as I realized just how close to death these evil witches actually were.

  “They’re going to fight to the death?” I said, wondering if they, too, could smell the approach of two powerful vampires. “For my benefit?” I allowed my voice to take on a timbre of pleasure. Let these monsters believe their barbarity pleased me, aroused me, made me happy! “The blood of the victor will be full of adrenaline,” I went on. “Adrenaline is so delicious.”

  “It’s all for you, darling Cord.” Nico turned his eyes back to me, and even in the dark I could see that he looked faded, weak. His body was beginning to feel the effects of the power I’d drained from him. I was tempted to reach out and place my arm around him, to take the rest of his power and let him die, but I knew it wasn’t time yet.

  I wondered if I could leech Lorenzo’s power as well.

  I allowed my hand to brush against his arm, and he turned to smile at me. The same electrical surge I’d felt touching his brother rushed through me again. My veins felt briefly aflame, and I let my hand drop.

  So, I can leech power from witches.

  They had wanted to create a god. They just didn’t know I was going to be the god of their destruction.

  I looked across the pit and smiled at an older woman. Only the bottom of her face was visible to me beneath her cowl, but her wrinkled lips formed a smile in answer to mine.

  I closed my eyes and focused, thinking that my skin was coming into contact with hers, imagining how it felt, and I felt a surge.

  I opened my eyes and smiled to myself as she staggered a bit before righting herself. She shook her head, confused.

  So physical contact wasn’t needed.

  Excellent.

  Lorenzo cleared his throat and stepped forward almost to the very lip of the pit. He spread his arms and began to speak in a loud voice that carried.

  “Members of my coven, my brothers and my sisters,” Lorenzo announced, “as you all know, when we lost our master Sebastian, we struggled without leadership, until my brother and I”—he waved his hand at his brother, and Nico inclined his head forward slightly—“decided to take our rightful place at the head of our coven, accepting the mantle of responsibility for all of our well-being. There were those who felt Sebastian’s plans were wrong, overreached, and could not possibly come to fruition, that the powers that would be ranged against us would be too powerful to overcome.”

  There were murmurs, some of the others nodding agreement.

  “Sebastian believed that, after millennia of their rule, the time of the Councils and their rules had passed, that they were nothing more than anachronisms, vestiges of a long-dead past that had no bearing on modern times. Sebastian looked at the world and saw that the humans we had been sworn to protect from destruction were now on a path that would lead to their self-immolation and were determined to take this world with them in the mad rush to Armageddon, and he knew that the time of human ascendancy was past. They were given a birthright and they squandered it, with their pettiness and greed and selfishness and arrogance. As such, my brother and I decided that the best way to move forward was to follow Sebastian’s plan, come what may, and that it was better to die for a great cause than to continue to sit on the sidelines. There is a war coming, and we are prepared for it. Some of us may die, but what better way to die than as a martyr for the greater good?”

  More witches were nodding, some saying, “Here, here” as he continued to speak.

  “And here and now, I would like to share with you the news that we have accomplished our first step to achieving our ultimate goal.” He pulled me forward. “Behold our vampire, Cord.”

  Is he completely insane? I wondered as the coven oohed and aahed over me as if I were some kind of show dog. I smiled at them all, looking around the pit. A coming war? The complete destruction of humanity?

  And I knew they all had to die—there was no question.

  And I would take great pleasure in destroying them.

  Inside of me, the power tried to surge again, but I kept it under control. I could smell Jean-Paul and Clint even stronger than before. They would be here soon, but somehow I knew I wouldn’t have to wait for them, wouldn’t need their help.

  I was becoming a god.

  “He is under our control—my brother’s and mine. With him at our side as our enforcer, we cannot be stopped!” The triumph in Lorenzo’s voice was unmistakable.

  I glanced at Nico out of the corner of my eye, and he was smiling slyly at his brother. His eyes met mine.

/>   “He has no idea what I have planned for him, Cord. Together we will destroy him.”

  I nodded and lowered my eyes, lest he read something in them I didn’t want him to see just yet.

  At first, there was no reaction from the coven to Lorenzo’s words. But then, one of them began clapping, and soon all of them were clapping and cheering me.

  I was their destroyer, not their enforcer.

  Nico took my hand and squeezed it. His hand felt warm and dry, desiccated and weak. The pressure he tried to put on my hand with the squeeze was nothing. I smiled back at him as he winked at me, and I took a deep breath.

  More power flowed into me through his hand, and his eyes . . . I almost laughed at the look in them.

  Finally, so close to the end, he realized what he had done.

  I looked into his eyes and went into his mind.

  “You will do and say nothing, Nico. You will merely stand here next to me and not warn anyone. I am your creation, and if they knew, they would kill you anyway. This is why it was forbidden so long ago for a vampire to drink the blood of a witch, to mess with godhood. I am draining your power. I am taking your life force and adding it to my own. My power grows with every second we stand here. Can you feel death’s grip on you?”

  And the last of his power drained into me, and he stood there, and I saw death in his eyes.

  But I kept him animated.

  It was too soon for anyone else to know.

  I let go of his hand and he stood there, the living dead, an empty shell.

  “And now, for our entertainment, these two men will battle for the right to feed our vampire!” Lorenzo clapped his hands, and down in the pit, the two began circling each other.

  I didn’t want to watch but couldn’t look away.

  “Not yet,” the voice whispered in my brain. “Almost.”

  There was glee in that voice now, and somewhere in my mind I knew that it didn’t matter whether I waited to destroy them or did it now.

  But it would somehow be more pleasing to wait, to let them have their pleasures in viewing the struggle beneath us in the pit.

  And so I watched, knowing I wouldn’t permit either of them to die.

  With a predatory smile on his handsome face, Blaine launched himself at Robert. Robert’s cock was hard inside his jock, and so was Blaine’s. Robert took a few steps backward until he could go back no farther, his back against the wall, and there was a smack as their bodies came into contact. Blaine’s nipples were erect, and his ass flexed and clenched inside the straps of his white jock as he began driving his fists into Robert’s beautifully defined abs.

  I glanced around the pit, and all of the witches were mesmerized by the contest.

  The fools, I thought, and looked back into the pit.

  Blaine still had Robert backed up against the wall, still punching, his back muscles flexing. Robert’s face went quickly from confused to pained to scared. His eyes came up as his breath blasted out of his body from yet another connected punch, and I looked deep into his terrified eyes.

  “This isn’t what I’d thought it would be, like when me and Chip wrestle around in bed as foreplay. This isn’t foreplay. This hot muscle guy is fighting for real, and he wants to hurt me. I can see it in his eyes and his face and what’s worse is he’s actually getting turned on by hurting me. He’s punching me so fucking hard my abs hurt. I don’t know how much more of this I can take but I don’t think he’s going to stop I don’t even know if I can fight back oh my God this isn’t hot at all this is scary I thought we were just going to wrestle around in jocks and the loser was going to get fucked and I was fine with that this guy has a hot ass I’d love to fuck but I wouldn’t care if he fucked me either for that matter he’s so hot but he’s going to hurt me—”

  “Relax, my pretty Robert, just go with what is happening. I won’t let anything hurt you.”

  He nodded almost imperceptibly, gasping as Blaine drove another brutal punch into his stomach.

  “Don’t hurt him, Blaine. Pull your punches. You know how to do that, don’t you? Put on a show for the good people.”

  And I felt Blaine come back into himself. He paused for a moment and stepped back from Robert, whose legs were a little wobbly. Blaine shook his head and looked up at me. I nodded down at him, and he turned back to Robert. He stepped forward and punched him again in the stomach. But it was more loud than painful, and I could see the terror in Robert’s eyes lessen as Blaine reached down and grabbed hold of the black jock. He twisted it into his fist until it snapped, and Blaine tossed it back over his shoulder before stepping back. Robert’s dick flopped up, and I glanced over at Lorenzo. He was watching them, his eyes aflame, his mouth open and practically drooling. The notion that a few hours earlier he’d been inside of me, driving me almost insane with desire, nauseated me now.

  Another hunger pang tore through me. This one felt like a jagged knife was being shoved into my intestines and twisted. My vision swam in and out of focus, and it took all of my willpower not to scream from the agony.

  Nico’s hand squeezed mine reassuringly.

  The only thing keeping him alive was my will. His life force was gone, but his heart was still beating, his blood was still flowing.

  I stared at him for a moment and saw the blue vein in his neck, pulsing with each beat of his heart, and remembered the sweet taste of his blood, how nourishing and refreshing it had been—and how I’d felt after.

  Stronger.

  More powerful.

  I have made you a god.

  The power was addicting.

  I had taken his life, but would more of his delicious blood make me even stronger?

  Control. Keep control. You’ll be able to feed soon enough. Both the blood and the power.

  I swallowed and turned my attention back to what was happening below me. Robert had collapsed and lay panting, facedown, in the dirt. His ass was up in the air, and Blaine was stepping out of his own jock, his swollen cock angry and red, anxious for release. He got down on his knees and forced Robert’s legs apart. He pulled Robert up until he was on his knees and spread Robert’s ass cheeks and spat into his hole. He shoved his cock in and Robert’s mouth opened in a howl that echoed off the house and the trees. Blaine flexed his ass as he drove deeper inside of Robert as the howl died off into a growl of pure animal pleasure.

  “Isn’t this a beautiful thing?” Lorenzo whispered to me. “This is the true natural order of things for humans—to be our sport, entertainment for us to watch and appreciate. This world was never meant for them to rule over; this is how it should be.” His eyes glittered with bloodlust, and he reached down, letting his hand brush against my crotch.

  Again, I felt some of his power flow into me through my cock, and I shuddered.

  It was so intense.

  And I wanted more.

  Robert howled again, and I turned to look back as the two of them fucked. The other witches were enrapt, unable to stop watching.

  “I’ll let them both come before he kills the other,” Lorenzo said, winking at me.

  “Let him live,” I said.

  Lorenzo turned to me, a strange look on his face. “What?”

  I looked him square in the eye, focusing deeply on the words. “Let the loser live, Lorenzo. I don’t want to see him die before me. I don’t need the sacrifice.”

  The power begged to be released.

  Lorenzo’s will collapsed before mine, and he nodded.

  We watched in silence as Blaine pounded away at Robert’s ass, his face glistening with sweat.

  If Nico hadn’t given me his blood to drink, Robert would most definitely have died in the pit, and Blaine, who just a few days earlier had nothing more on his mind than upcoming finals and having to dance on the bar at Oz in his white briefs, would have been a murderer.

  These witches were evil, and destroying them was going to be a pleasure.

  I could smell Jean-Paul and Clint. They were at the head of the driveway, on the other side
of the forest. They would be here soon.

  “Now,” the voice whispered in my head.

  I let go of Nico’s hand and he collapsed, dead.

  “What . . .” Lorenzo stared at me. “What have you done—”

  In one step I put my arms around him and sank my teeth into his neck. I was so hungry, and his blood was even sweeter, more rich, more satisfying, than Nico’s had been. His magic power flowed into me as well as I pressed my crotch against his, and he trembled in my arms, and the power continued growing inside of me, and then I was finished with him and tossed his body aside.

  The rest of the coven wasn’t even aware of what had just happened to their leaders, so intent were they on watching Blaine and Robert finding pleasure in each other’s bodies.

  So ridiculously easy.

  I sensed the big SUV Clint was driving coming up the driveway through the oak forest. If I wasn’t finished before they got here, I’d not be able to take what I wanted.

  I closed my eyes and focused.

  And the power began to flow out of the coven and into me.

  My body began to tremble, and for a brief moment I resisted the current, every hair on my body standing on end, but then I gave in to it and it began filling me up. I could feel my erection straining against the velvet pants. I was so aroused; this was better than sex, this was better than sex on drugs, this was better than sex on drugs while drinking the blood of a beautiful boy, and I was becoming powerful, oh so fucking powerful, that no one, no one was ever going to be able to contain me again.