Ethan pushed Tyler to his knees and undid his pants. "Suck my c.o.c.k," he urged, reaching up to slap at Bryce's s.e.x. Then he moved his hand to the nipple clamps and pulled on them.

As Tyler sucked Ethan's c.o.c.k without enthusiasm, he heard those voices again. He's the one...the one.

Young one. You want to possess him. Possess him, Joey. Do it now.

Tyler pushed away from Ethan. "Ethan, I want to take him," he said.

Ethan scowled. "Right now?"

Tyler nodded, walking out from under the table.

Ethan sighed.

"You said we'd get to play with him," Tyler pouted.

Ethan laughed. "Alright." He stepped up on some stone steps. "Come on, but I get to watch."

Tyler climbed up the steps and crawled onto the table. He straddled him, reaching down and spreading the cheeks of his b.u.t.tocks with his fingers. He wanted to place his tongue there but he didn't dare. He knew Ethan wouldn't approve. He placed his throbbing member over his entrance and then slowly let himself sink inside of him. "Bryce," he leaned down and whispered against his ear, "I love you."

He began to thrust.

Ethan crawled down off the table. "I'm going to wake him up," he snickered. "Want me to tell you what I'm doing? It will turn you on, Tyler."

"If you want," Tyler grunted, but it was totally unnecessary. He was panting with pa.s.sion. As he rode him, he buried one hand in his hair and leaned down to kiss his shoulder.

"I'm fondling his s.e.x," Ethan breathed. "I'm playing with the head right now and pulling on one of those nipple clamps."

Bryce opened his eyes. He felt a mouth capture his c.o.c.k. He knew someone was inside of him. He moaned and tried to rise off the table.

Ethan laughed. "He's awake."

Tyler threw back his head, exploded inside of him as Bryce bucked his hips underneath him.

"Tyler," he breathed, feeling some sense of coherency suddenly.

Ethan came up onto the table now as Tyler backed off of him.

"Undo his ankles," Ethan told Tyler as he reached for his wrists. "Turn him over."

Ethan pushed him onto his back and quickly clapped on the wrists shackles again, pushing Tyler aside so that he could do the same to his ankles.

Ethan leered down at him.

Tyler gasped. Bryce's eyes were open. He was looking right at him. "Tyler?"

"Yes, Tyler," Ethan laughed, pulling on one of the nipple clamps, then reaching down to brutally slap Bryce's c.o.c.k.

Tyler winced.

"Tyler is my lover, did you know that?"

Bryce struggled against the constraints for a moment, then looked at Tyler.

"Tell him," Ethan urged, running his hand over Bryce's thigh.

"Don't touch me, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d," he glared at him.

Ethan laughed. "Not much you can do about it, is there? Tyler, tell him," Ethan insisted.

Tyler swallowed. He couldn't look at him. "I love Ethan. We planned this...together."

Bryce's eyes widened. He was weak as a kitten. They had pumped him full of drugs. G.o.d knows what obscene things they had done to him. But Tyler, Tyler involved with all this? It seemed impossible.

Ethan laughed. "Tyler, undo his legs," he told him. "What for? I thought you said to...?" Tyler hesitated.

Ethan pushed Tyler aside. He practically fell on the floor. He watched him undo the ankle shackles then raise his legs up, leaning into them.

"No," Tyler yelled, grabbing at him.

Ethan shoved him away. "b.a.s.t.a.r.d," he seethed. "All those years you got in my way. I can't wait to see you die." Ethan yanked Bryce's legs up over his shoulders as Bryce began to swear at him.

Tyler reached for Ethan and tried to pull him off. Then he felt himself beingpushed off the table. He fell to the floor, hard. For a few minutes, he couldn't get his breath. The room was spinning. Finally when he could focus again, he saw Ethan lying a few feet from him. Stumbling to his feet, he went over to him. Blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth. He reached down to feel a pulse. Ethan was dead.

Tyler scrambled up the stone steps. He stared dumbfounded at the empty slab. The straps at the head of the table were split in two. Tyler remained staring at the empty table for a few seconds then climbed back down to the floor. A chill ran down his spine. Where was Bryce?

Without wasting another moment, Tyler left the room and made his way back upstairs. It was absolutely silent. Carefully, he snuck back to the room where the Captain had been. The door stood open. He looked around him cautiously. There was no sound except for the beating of his heart.

Creeping softly inside the room, he paused and looked around. He was about to leave when he looked down to see a spot of blood on the floor. He bit his lip. Bryce. My G.o.d, where was he?

He took another step, his heart beating so loudly in his chest now, it was deafening. He walked over to the bed, than walked around to the other side. He swallowed. There was the naked body of the Captain. There was a gaping hole where his throat had been. But there wasn't a drop of blood.

He shivered and quickly left the room, pausing outside to catch his breath for a moment. Calm down, Tyler, he told himself. Everything was going to be alright. Where was Bryce? He had to find Bryce.

THE DARK ANGEL

Tyler wasn't sure where he was going but there were voices leading him. He walked through the empty fortress toward a great room, which was located up a flight of stairs.

"Come," a voice summoned from behind a great door that seemed to be carved from thick gla.s.s.

Tyler reached for the door handle and pulled. Voices surrounded him although he could see nothing for a moment except for a great bright light.

When his eyes adjusted, he saw a man with long platinum hair and iridescent blue eyes floating in the corner of the room. He looked like an angel. He was wearing a pair of white skin-tight leggings. His chest was bare except for a huge strange looking medallion that hung from his neck.

Tyler gasped. In his arms was Bryce's limp naked body "Bryce," Tyler called out. "Don't you hurt him."

"I'm not going to hurt him," he said softly, running his hand over Bryce's naked torso. "I'm going to save his life."

"What...what are you?" Tyler breathed.

He smiled at him. Then he opened his mouth. Two sharp teeth protruded from his jaw.

Tyler's knees trembled.

He lowered his mouth, Tyler watched in horror as he sunk his teeth into Bryce's neck.

Bryce moaned deeply, moving in the beings arms. As the vampire drank, he reached down to caress Bryce's s.e.x. Bryce shuddered with a deep satisfying o.r.g.a.s.m. The being lowered Bryce's body to the floor. Then he stood back as four figures stepped out from the shadows. They lifted Bryce's body up. Blood trailed down his throat and onto his chest. Tyler tried to speak. "Please...where...what..?" He watched helplessly as they carried Bryce out. When Tyler was finally able to move his legs, he ran to the door. It slammed shut. He turned around, "Please," he implored him, tears streaming down his face, "I love this man. Please, I..."

The vampire c.o.c.ked his head. "We know that."

"Is he...dead?" Tyler whimpered.

"No." He shook his head.

After a few seconds, Tyler whispered, "I've had dreams."

"Yes." He nodded his blond head.

"Do you know about our...?"

"Yes. I know." His voice was smooth, soft. He came closer, than paused when he saw the fear in Tyler's eyes.

Tyler sucked in some breath. "So it's true then?" He tried not to stare into those strangely beautiful blue eyes of his.

"It is." He nodded.

Tyler looked around him. "Did you kill...all the others?" he asked him miserably, wrapping his arms around his chest for warmth. It was suddenly freezing cold in that room.

"Yes," he said. "We did."

Tyler swallowed. Was he to be next? "Ethan said he had made an agreement of some kind with you. He said you wouldn't kill anyone."

"Ethan was a fool," he said without any emotion. "As were his compatriots."

"And, what about us?" Tyler held his breath.

"You are quite safe," he said.

"Then you will let us go?"

"I will let you go, Tyler." He folded his arms across his ma.s.sive chest.

"What about Bryce?"

"He can never leave here. He will soon be one of us. He belongs to the night. The atmosphere of the other planets would destroy him. We are all prisoners here."

"What do you mean...he will be one of you? He's to be a...v...vampire?" Tyler stammered.

"He always was. As were you, long ago." He met his eyes.

Tyler shook his head. "No. I...you're...you don't know what you're saying. I'm not a..."

"What about the dreams, Tyler?" He looked at him.

"They were dreams...only dreams...testimony that we have lived before but..."

"How do you think that was possible?" His voice was almost like a whisper in his head.

"I don't know...I suppose it was fated somehow...and..."

He shook his head. "He is a very powerful vampire. He was destined for great things. He took his own life because of you. If he had been alone, he could have fought them all. He had great strength."

"Who?"

"Joey's sire, your enemies."

"Mine?" He blinked.

"Yes."

"He was meant to challenge their reign later on in the century, thereby establishing a new vampire age. He was destined to be our leader. But because of you, he swayed from his path. And by sheer will, he made a suicide pact with you and ensured you would meet again and again in other lives, as mortal men."

Tyler couldn't speak.

"But the lives you live end only in tragedy. And if he continues to live these mortal lives over and over, he may never reconnect with the vampire. We have waited so long to bring him back to us. This link between you must be severed for good. The future of our nation depends on it."

"I don't understand," Tyler muttered. "This makes no sense to me."

His mouth twisted. "It doesn't have to. I'm willing to let you go. I will provide you with a craft so that you may go back to Ruby City and take your rightful place. I have even destroyed your enemies for you. All I ask is that you go, and forget about him. We will make sure that it never happens again."

"I can no more forget about him then I can my own heartbeat," Tyler shook his head. "How can you ask this of me? I thought you understood that we have been linked forever. He is my eternal love."

The blond being sighed. "He was never meant to be your eternal love, Tyler. He has always been your enemy. At one time, he took you and your family prisoner. At another, you came to kill him. Still in another century, you were on opposite sides of a war. Can't you see? Don't you understand? What Dino had willed was unnatural. It was foolish self indulgence. You will never be together without tragedy."

"I understand that there has been pain," Tyler said desperately. "But it is the cost of a great love, isn't it...to overcome impossible odds to be together?" He felt tears sting the back of his eyes.

"No, Tyler," he shook his head. "You are wrong. It is not so much love that ties you together, but vampire l.u.s.t, memories of s.e.x you had as vampires, s.e.xual ecstasy that can never be duplicated as mortal men."