Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2005 10:24:18 -0800 (PST) From: JMH <trandar2002@yahoo.com> Subject: The Guild chp #26 Only ten more chps after this one. Enjoy. JMH trandar2002@yahoo.com http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adultwritingworkshop/ ************************************************************************** It was at times like this that Clare wondered why she even bothered standing up for her brother. She had dragged John, almost twenty two now, and as far as she was aware still a virgin, to Sparta to help him `lose his cherry'. Her brother however was not cooperating... his head stuffed in a book while gorgeous men passed him by. "John... why am I paying three thousand a night for us to be here when I could have taken you to a public library for free?" "I asked you the same thing." John replied, his eyes not leaving his book. Just then a blond haired man passed by, giving John a wink. "Hello cutie." "Sorry... busy." John brushed the man off. "Don't you want to rub some lotion into my skin?" The man pouted holding up the bottle. "Not really." John replied disinterested. Seeing he was being totally ignored the man opened up the bottle and squeezed out its contents on top of John's black hair, dropping the near empty bottle to the ground. "Well you deserved that." Clare laughed. "Thanks." John sighed, closing his book. "I guess I better wash this stuff out." Wearing the tight black speedo his sister had insisted he wear John dove into the pool, swimming over to the other side. When he climbed out of the pool the first thing he saw was a man spread out on one of the lounge chairs, asleep, his pale skin a beet red. Out of concern more then anything else John reached down and started shaking the man awake... feeling a jolt as he did so that sent his moth agape. For the first time in his life he felt consumed by a desire stronger then those of his books ******************************************* When Joshua felt himself being shaken awake the front of his body was on fire. Standing over him was a lanky man with black hair, a smooth body but for the narrow trail of hair between his pecs, the bluest of eyes, and a gaping mouth. "Hello," Joshua smiled as he sat up. "Ummm hello," The man blushed. "You know you should not be sunning yourself with skin like yours. It looks like you got yourself a bad sunburn." "Is that what happened to me," Joshua asked as he looked at his red skin. "Yep... did you even bother using sunscreen?" Not even knowing what sunscreen was, Joshua shook his head no. Just then a woman showed up next to the thin man. "John have you met someone?" "Clare..." The man blushed. Now standing up, Joshua offered his hand to the woman. "Hello... I'm Joshua." "Well hello Joshua." Clare grinned taking the offered hand only to feel a sudden jolt that sent a shiver down her spine. John watched as both his sister's and Joshua's eyes went wide and for the first time he felt a ting of jealousy. Trying to think of a way to get back into the conversation, John remembered the abandoned bottle of suntan lotion. "Excuse me... I'll be right back," John excused himself but by the time he returned Joshua and his twin sister were had their lips around each other. "Damn you Clare!" John shouted as he threw the bottle at the two of them. He then ran away... he was so angry. "Your brother is in pain," Joshua said sadly. "I know... and it is my fault." Clare sighed. "I don't know what came over me... I felt a sudden urge to kiss you even though I'm engaged." "I know why you kissed me." "Care to explain it to me." "I wish I could." Joshua said as he made sure his sunglasses covered his white eyes. "When you see your brother again, please tell him to come see me. I'm in the Sunset Bungalow. "Oh..." Clare said surprised, her family was one of the wealthiest on Aquarius. That was how she and her brother could afford the Sunrise Bungalow on the other side of the island. Give Joshua another look she saw the large gold watch around his wrist. So Joshua was not only to die for gorgeous but wealth as well... a perfect match for her brother... let alone herself. "Would you care to have dinner with us?" Forgetting about his planned date with Tidal, Joshua nodded his head. "Yes... I would like that." "Good... we will meet you in the lobby then around ten." "Ok... Joshua nodded as he wrapped his arms around Clare, lifted her up off her feet, and gave her a deep kiss. ****************************************** As Joshua left the pool he was intercepted by Clive who had watched everything. "So tell me... are you bisexual or something?" He chuckled as he wrapped an arm around Joshua's waist. "Bisexual?" Joshua asked. "Never mind," Clive replied as he handed Joshua a package. "I got something for you." "What is it?" Joshua asked curiously. "Contact lenses... We can't go out at night wearing sunglasses all the time." "Contact lenses?" Joshua asked confused. "Don't worry... I'll show you how to put them on." "Thank you Clive," Joshua said as he nuzzled against the man's face. "Keep doing that and I will be thanking you." Clive sighed. Joshua did keep it up, taking Clive directly to his bedroom...Clive thanking him all the way. After sharing a bath an hour before dinner, Clive began to give Joshua his first lesson in dinning etiquette. Setting the table with a half dozen utensils, two glasses, and an assortment of plates and bowls, Clive sat Joshua down. "What is this?" Joshua asked. "I'm going to get you ready for your date with Tidal." "But..." Joshua was about to protest... remembering he had also promised to have dinner with Clare and John. "No buts... you need to learn this." Clive said, ignoring the worried look on Joshua's face. "The general rule is you eat outward in... so you use this utensil for the salad... this one for the main course, and this one for dessert. Understand?" "Yes... but I don't know why I can't just use the same one? They look almost the same." "Imagine you are eating a salad with a vinegar dressing... later you try to use the same utensil to eat a piece of chocolate cake... don't you think that would taste nasty." "What's chocolate?" Clive's green eyes went wide. "You have never had chocolate... The food of the gods!" "Nope." "Well then you need to be sure and order it off the menu." "But I don't know how to read the menu." "Oh... I forgot." "Am I going to make a fool out of myself again?" Joshua asked worried. "Not if I can help it. So this is what you are going to do..." Clive said as he brought he head close to Joshua's." ************************************************ Matthew Van'dar left the resort for the mainland to meet with his friends... his true friends. They understood him... respected him... loved him. As a result Matt had confided with them about his problems with his father and instead of telling him how stupid his feelings were they had offered to take him in. That was where Matt was headed now. On arriving at the address he had been given, Matthew was stunned by the size of the place... it was not so much a house as it was a complex, much larger than his father's hotel. After paying the cab driver, Matthew pushed the buzzer by the main gate. "Hello?" A voice asked from the speaker. "Hello... my name is Matthew Van'dar." "Yes... we have been expecting you. Welcome to the Brotherhood of Gerick, welcome home." ************************************************* At nine o'clock , Joshua dressed in a dark blue suit that matched the contacts in his eyes, walked into the lobby where he found Tidal fidgeting next to the front desk. "Hello Tidal." Joshua said in a soft voice, coming up to the hotel manager from behind. "You came." Tidal grinned, turning around to face Joshua. "Why would I not?" Joshua asked returning the smile. Tidal took in a deep breath, taking in the scents of Joshua's cologne, recognizing the tell tale smells of citrus fruits of a Guild product... heavy with the presence of designer pheromones, meant to both relax and arouse. It was also terribly expensive. "You smell wonderful." "Thank you... Clive helped me pick it out. I've never worn cologne before so I did not know if you would like it." "You're good enough to eat." Tidal grinned... "Which reminds me... are you ready for dinner?" "Famished." Leading Joshua into the main restaurant, Clive took him to one of the private dinning rooms... pulling out Joshua's chair for the young man to sit in. "I see you got some sun." Tidal chuckled, seeing the skin on Joshua's nose was already peeling. "Yeah." Joshua nodded. After Tidal had taken his set across from Joshua, a waiter came in and filled their water glasses and handed them their menus." To Tidal's bemusement, he watched as Joshua opened the menu and studied it even though Tidal knew the young man did not know how to read. "Joshua can I offer you a suggestion." "No... I think I know what I will have." Joshua smiled as he closed the menu. "Sir?" The waiter asked as he took out a pad of paper. "I'll have the Quill salad, the skewered shrimp, and the prime rib." "Excellent choices... and what wine would you like with your meal?" "A Southernfields red," Joshua said, naming a potent sipping wine. "Perfect... and for you sir?" The waiter ask turning toward Tidal. Tidal would bet the entire hotel that Joshua had not read the menu. If anything, he was sure that Clive had read it to Joshua before hand... Joshua memorizing his choices to save him another embarrassment. Tidal though was not about to ruin things for Joshua. "I'll have the same." After the waiter had served their wine, he left, closing the doors behind him, Tidal slipped off his shoes and extended a foot so it was resting in Joshua's lap, curling his toes against the other man's body. Joshua reached for his wine glass and took a deep drink before letting out a soft moan. His hands then went under the table as he rolled off Tidal's sock, tossing it over his shoulder. Joshua then started massaging Tidal's foot with both hands. "Mmmmmm..." Tidal moaned. "You know your father would give the best massages. You're not half bad yourself." "I know... whom you think I learned it from." Joshua grinned as he took another drink of his wine. For the next few minutes Joshua massaged Tidal's feet, the older man letting out moans and gasps. Only when Tidal saw the handle of the door move did he jerk his feet away. "Your Quill salads sirs." The waiter said, not noticing Tidal's beet red face or Joshua's mischievous grin. Seeing that Joshua's wine glass wan empty, the waiter filled it back up before leaving. Once they were alone again Tidal took a baby carrot from the top of his salad and threw it at Joshua's face. "You're evil." "Thank you." Joshua said with a mocking bow of his head. He too took one of the carrots off his salad but instead of throwing it he put it to his mouth and started sucking on it." "Joshua..." Tidal warned. "What do you think you are doing?" Joshua bit a chunk out of the carrot. "Flirting." Tidal let a deep chuckle... Joshua was so much like Falcon who had been an incorrigible flirt. Tidal was beginning to suspect however that Joshua was being affected by his own cologne. "Joshua...whatever am I going to do with you." "Whatever you would like," Joshua giggled as he reached for his wine glass once again. When Joshua put it back down Tidal saw that it was empty... the young man's face flushed red. "Joshua... are you drunk?" "I guess I am." Joshua laughed as he held his wine glass upside down, his speech slurred. "Joshua... that was Southfield red... a sipping wine. You're not even supposed to drink half of it let alone two glasses." "Ooops." Tidal left his chair and went to Joshua's side of the table, taking away his wine glass. "I think you have had enough for tonight." "Ok..." Joshua nodded resting his head on the table. Soon Tidal heard the soft and not unpleasant sound of Joshua snoring. Taking off his coat he wrapped it over Joshua's shoulders. He then took out a communicator and called the hotel doctor. "Wilson this is Tidal." "Hello Tidal... how is your date?" "We are at the restaurant right now. He's still across from me... snoring." Tidal described. "You've already bored him to death." Wilson laughed. "No... he's had a little too much Southernfield red." "How much." "Two glasses by the looks of it." "Wow... that's enough to take out a bull." "Yes that is why I need you to come by and bring a restorative." "I'm already on my way." "Thanks," Tidal said before making another call. "Hello?" Clive's cheerful voice came from the other end. "Clive unless you can explain yourself your in a hell of a lot of trouble." "Sir... what's wrong?" "Why did you not warn Joshua about Southernfield red?" "Oh no... how much did he drink." "Two glasses." "Sir... this is my fault. I keep on forgetting what Joshua does and does not know. If you want you may have my resignation." "That won't be necessary... other than him being drunk and horny as hell from his own cologne I think you did a good job with him." "Thank you sir." Seeing the door open again, Tidal cut the call short. "We should be done here around ten o'clock. I would like you to come over to take Joshua back to the bungalow then." "Alright," Clive replied before Tidal ended the call. Seeing the doctor enter, Tidal went over and shook his hand. "Thank you for coming Wilson." "Not a problem at all... I think I remembering having to give you a restorative not a few times in the past." The man said as he took out a syringe." Tidal watched as the doctor removed the coat and took Joshua's hand, injecting him in a vein near his thumb. "He should be fine in a few moments." "Good." Tidal sighed as the waiter removed the salads and replaced them with the sugar cane skewered shrimp After taking Joshua's pulse, Wilson lifted up Joshua's eyelids. "Sir... I think you should have a look at this." Something wrong?" "I don't know. I found this in his eye." Wilson said as he held up the contact. "So he wears blue contacts... what's the problem?" "Look at his eye now." Tidal went over and lifted Joshua's eyelid. "The darkness take me." "Tell me I'm wrong...tell me he's not the one the new Prelate is looking for." "But..." Tidal wanted to protest but even he could see the white glow of Joshua's eyes. "Leave us... I want to be alone with my nephew when he wakes up." "What about telling the authorities?" Tidal did even blink an eye as he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the gun his brother, ever the Protector, had given him and fired, the doctor's body disintegrating into a pile of dust. "No one ever threatens my family... you should have remembered that Wilson," Tidal whispered, his voice filled with tightly control rage. Putting his coat back on, Tidal retuned the gun to its proper place. He then left the room only to come back with a vacuum which he used to remove the doctor's remains. He then took Joshua napkin out of young man's lap and dampened it with water so that he might remove the excess cologne from Joshua. It was while Tidal was washing Joshua's neck that the counterpart awoke. "You lost this." Tidal smiled weakly as he held up the lost contact." "Oh no!" Joshua said... panicked, taking the contact back. "Joshua... why didn't you tell me you are the counterpart." Tidal asked while he watched Joshua struggle to put the contact back in his eye. "So you know." Joshua sighed... letting the contact fall down to the floor. "Yes... so why didn't you tell me?" "I did not know if I could trust you." "Well at least you're honest but you should trust me Joshua. You're my blood. I would die... kill for you." "I now know that." "You do?" Tidal said... not convinced. "I have to trust you now... you're eyes... they're red." "What? Tidal said his eyes darting to the dining room mirror where he was confronted with the two red fiery orbs of his eyes. "Joshua... what does this mean?" "You are now a Protector... my Proctor... just as my father is." "So Falcon is alive!" "Yes... at least I still sense he is alive. He was captured by the Inquisitors." Remembering what Falcon had told him about Protectors, Tidal closed his eyes and concentrated. "Can you hear me?" "Yes." Joshua sent back. "I don't believe it... I'm a Protector now." "I'm glad you are." Joshua said as he wrapped his arms around Tidal's neck., his eye catching glimpse of his watch. It read ten o'clock. "I have to go." "But..." Tidal protested. "Meet me latter tonight?" Joshua said as he put his contact back into his eye. Tidal was about to tell Joshua that he did have to go back home eventually but looking at his red eyes in the mirror Tidal knew that was impossible now. He was now a Protector... the sleepless watcher. His every moment now belonged to Joshua. For better or for worse his sham of a marriage was now over. "Yes Joshua, I will come to you."