Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2010 22:58:55 -0600
From: Jason Gordon <jaygordon_1981@hotmail.com>
Subject: Things That Go Bump, Ch. 11

Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction which will include t/t and
m/m relationships, and probably some sex too.  If it is illegal in your
area to read this, or if you are not old enough to read this (you know who
you are), stop here.  Otherwise, please enjoy.


		      Things That Go Bump, Chapter 11
				 "Rising"


	"Consul," one man shouted the rest down, "all due respect, but you
can't be serious...."

	Sebastian now smiled on the outside, and leaned into his
microphone.  "I am quite serious....  It would be irresponsible to send a
vampire of any less than 500 years to the Oracle, and none of you seem
willing....  Shapeshifters, by and large, do not heal so well as we
vampires do, so the damage that could be inflicted would be more
injurious...."  The few werewolves and other shapeshifters present shook
their heads in assent to that point.  "Wizards and witches have the benefit
of being human, so they stand a good chance of escaping the Oracle's
notorious dislike of our kinds, and, if not, a powerful wizard could
counter most of the Oracle's magic....  And Avery Salazar is the most
powerful wizard I've known who is still alive...."

	Consul Chang leaned in and interrupted.  "We all know of your vocal
opposition to the sentence this council imposed against Salazar....  One
cannot help but feel that you are taking this opportunity to lift the exile
imposed against your friend...."

	"What exactly are you accusing me of, Consul Chang?"

	"Perhaps it is merely opportunism....  or perhaps something
more...."

	"That," Sebastian said with a heavy pause, "is very serious
double-talk....  And by the laws of this council, I would be within my
rights to demand the opportunity to defend my honor...."  Quiet whispers
broke out, but he shushed them.  "However, I will, for the moment, waive
that right, if Consul Chang will either support my suggestion or volunteer
to undertake the task himself...."

	Chang leaned in angrily.  "So, if I don't accept Salazar, and
presumably a pardon, then...."

	"Then you may either face the Oracle, or you may face me in a
battle to the death...."

	A freezing silence fell over the assembled representatives, as
Chang's face reddened.  "Recall Salazar, then, if that is the will of the
council," he said, as his screen went black.

	Musa spoke again, "That's one vote in favor of recalling ex-Consul
Salazar from his exile and offering him a pardon in exchange for his
seeking out the advice of the Oracle....  Please indicate your approval by
pressing the red button...."  Lights began to flash as nearly 90% gave
their assent to Sebastian's choice.  After his encounter with Chang, there
was little doubt about his seriousness.  Sebastian was given the charge of
summoning him and convincing him to undertake the task.

	As the meeting concluded with pledges of support for the Egyptian
operations, Americ sent Sebastian a private message, "I hope you know what
you're doing, Sebastian....  Let me know if you need anything.  A."

	Pedro Salazar, however, called him into a private video conference
and looked at him beaming.  "My brother always said you'd never let him
down, Sebastian!  I can't thank you enough...."

	"Well, Avery still has to accept and succeed...."

	"You know he will, Sebastian....  You know our family...."

	"The strangest in our world, my friend....  One brother a wizard,
the other a vampire....  Your brother and I had some interesting adventures
in the day...."

	"When will you recall him?"

	"If he agrees, tonight....  I'll get him in touch with you as soon
as he comes home...."

	"Thank you, Sebastian, thank you...."

	"Goodbye for now, Pedro...."  He signed off and sat back in his
chair.  Zombies in Egypt, strange disappearances, tremors, now Avery
Salazar and the Oracle....  All on top of James returning to him....  What
a day, and it was still morning.

	He hurried back to the hospital to find James up and in good
spirits, talking to Richard.  "You look terrible," the boy said to him.
"Can we go home?"

	"Has the doctor cleared you?  We need everything to look right on
paper...."  Richard nodded and tapped his head with three wavy fingers --
he had apparently given the man some guidance.  "Let's go," he said.
Richard went to bring the car and a nurse wheeled James out to the classic
limo.  Back at home, the three vampires went to bed and drifted into deep
and dreamless sleeps.

	Night was coming earlier every day, and they were all up and alert
when Pete, Chris and Steve all arrived.  "Sheesh, man, you're home early!
When will you be back to school," Pete asked.

	"I don't know," James said.

	Sebastian jumped in and added, "He'll need a lot of therapy and
that sort of thing for a while, so probably not before spring...."  James
nodded, understanding that it would probably be that long before he could
stand prolonged exposure to humans he didn't care deeply about, or more
dangerously, humans he disliked.

	The guys sat around talking to him for a while, and they all said
they'd be at his mother's funeral, which had been postponed a few days so
he could attend.  They shared some tearful conversation about the woman,
who had been well liked by the guys on the team.  Only Chris did not know
here well.

	Soon, though, they left so he could get his rest.  Once they were
gone, Sebastian asked James and Richard to accompany him to the basement.
Handing Richard a piece of chalk, he said, "Please draw me a magical circle
about 10 feet across, with the directions marked...."  While he was doing
that, he took candles and placed a different color at each of the cardinal
directions.  Then he made a thick ring of rock salt outside the chalk.  To
James, he merely said, "Watch...."

	"What are you doing," Sebastian asked.

	"I am contacting an old friend," he said.  Then he removed all his
clothes unabashedly and donned a white robe.  "I summon you, guardian wind
of the north, come and stand in your place, opening this magical circle....
I summon you, guardian wind of the east, come and stand in your place,
opening this magical circle....  I summon you, guardian wind of the south,
come and stand in your place, opening this magical circle....  I summon
you, guardian wind of the west, come and stand in your place, opening this
magical circle....  Guardian winds protect this circle that none may enter
and none may exit, that what is in this world remains here, that what is in
that world remains there...."  The two circles glowed, the inner blue, the
outer white, as a gentle breeze filled the basement.  "Across the vast
expanse of space and time I conjure thee, Avery Salazar, from your place in
the ancient prison of Ashaer....  Appear before me, come to me, hear my
call...."

	A dirty figure appeared curled in the fetal position in the midst
of the circle.  James started for him but Sebastian grabbed his arm.  "Do
not cross the circle!"

	The figure made no move or noise other than a soft sobbing.
"Avery!  Avery my friend?"  Slowly the figure uncurled and looked at the
three men, as if he doubted their reality.

	"Where am I?  Who are you?"

	"You are in my basement....  I am Sebastian, your old friend...."

	"Sebastian....  Is it really you?  One of the tricks of the jailors
at Ashaer is to come to us ... as people from our past to get
information...."

	"Do you remember when we met?  You were just a boy of twelve....  I
had come to your father seeking refuge....  I taught you your first bit of
magic -- how to addle the mind of the young maidens you chased after?"

	The man laughed despite his tears.  "And tell me, mirage, given
that knowledge, which of those girls gave me my first kiss?"

	Sebastian laughed.  "I did, of course....  And I was surprised I
didn't have to addle your mind, either...."

	"It was the eighteenth century....  Most of the girls in my village
weren't as pretty as you," the man said, with a laugh, rising to his feet.
His body was very dirty and covered with cuts and bruises from instruments
of torture, but it was also exquisitely built beneath all that, light brown
hair on his long legs and around his beautiful manhood, and he stood nude
with noble pride before them.  "Sebastian, what's going on?"

	"I have gotten the council to agree to pardon and recall you," he
said, but Avery cut him off.

	"On what condition?"

	"We are living in strange times, my friend....  We require the
guidance of the Oracle, and," he paused, looking longingly at James, "I
cannot go myself...."  Avery looked at James with interest, curiosity, and
a bit of something else.

	"I should leave them all to their own mess...."

	"What of the rest of the world, Avery?  What of yourself?  Your
punishment could very well last forever, otherwise...."

	"Sebastian...."

	"Avery, your brother....  Come back to him ... come back to us, my
friend...."

	The man looked hard at Sebastian, and nodded, "For ... for my
friends, for my brother ... I'll do this thing you ask...."

	Sebastian nodded, then sighed and said, "Swear to it, by the
ancient code...."

	The man extended his palm and said, "I swear by the ancient code
that I shall undertake to do as I have promised my friend to the best of my
ability, and should I shirk this duty, may I perish in that very hour...."

	"It is done," Sebastian said, as static crackled between them.
Then he reached out with his foot and broached the two circles.  "Four
watchmen, I release you this day with thanks," he said with a wave of his
hand, stepping into the circle just as Avery collapsed into his arms.

	"Richard, help me get him upstairs to the shower...."  Together,
the older vampires helped the man up to the second floor and into the large
shower in Sebastian's room, while James waited downstairs.

	He took out the violin and sat practicing in a chair by the window,
and time began to pass unnoticed.  He jumped a little when Sebastian said,
"Wonderful, baby...."

	Setting the violin in its case, James turned to Sebastian and
looked at him solemnly.  "Who is this man, Avery?"

	Sebastian took his hand and led him to the couch.  Smiling, he
said, "As you heard, when I met him, he was just a boy, on the verge of
becoming a young man....  I was a worldly older boy to him, though he
quickly realized who, or what, I was....  He was always such a prodigy...."

	"You kissed...."

	"James," he said with a smile.  "I've had a long life, and I've
kissed a lot of men, and more than kissed, you know that....  But Avery
wasn't like that....  We played around like boys....  I taught him to kiss,
and to jack off....  But girls were his thing....  It was always just
playful between us....  Except for the magic....  Like I say, he was a
prodigy, and he learned from me over the course of years....  I'd come and
go and every time we met, he was stronger and stronger....  I'd hazard to
say that I still know more magic than he does, but the forces he can
command are much more powerful....  I remember when he stopped aging, he
learned to control the force of time, at least its effects on him.  When he
couldn't do the same for his brother, he tried to get me to turn his
brother....  I refused, but Avery managed to find someone, I still don't
know who....  I think Avery was afraid I would kill that vampire....  In
any case, his brother is a very powerful member of the shadow council, he
holds the same position I do....  Consul, it's called....  Avery used to
hold that position as well, before he was exiled to the Ashaer prison in a
mystical dimension created to hold the worst offenders...."

	"Why was he sent there?"

	"Because they were afraid of me," a weak voice called from the
door.  Avery weakly made his way around, clad in the silk pants and robe
that were Sebastian's favorite.  He sat opposite James and Sebastian and
sat for a moment.  "What the council never understood about me was that I
am insatiable not for power but for knowledge....  The fact that I am
extremely powerful is entirely uninteresting to me except as a side-effect
of what I'm really searching for....  But the rest ... oh they were afraid
I would ... what, take over?"

	"That's not all," Sebastian said, chiding.

	"No, that's not all....  There was a woman, she was very special to
me....  A werewolf killed her savagely one evening after she left the dance
studio where she taught....  I tracked him down and interrogated him...."

	"Interrogated him," Sebastian asked with arched eyebrows.

	Avery smiled grimly and shrugged, "How does the fellow in the movie
put it, 'I'm going to tear your soul apart'?  Shall we say I took that like
a serious suggestion....  In any case, he was the chief enforcer for the
consul for East Asia, and he would not have acted without his master's
authorization...."

	"So you killed the consul," James asked.

	"I like this one," Avery said, smiling.  "I did kill the consul....
And his second in command...."

	Sebastian leaned back and added, "And his bodyguards, and his best
friend, and his mistress...."

	"Oh, and don't forget the consul's headquarters in Hong Kong...."

	"That was the thing that did it, that really screwed us, Avery....
Avery blew up this compound in downtown Hong Kong in the middle of the
afternoon...."

	James nodded, raising his eyebrows.  "In retrospect," Avery said,
"perhaps it was a bit of overkill, but ... I ... I can't say I wouldn't do
it again...."

	"You loved her," James stated, more than asked.

	"More than I thought I could....  I was so angry, consumed with
grief and....  But I think you might understand, now, Sebastian...."  The
ancient vampire stood and walked to the window, as Avery reached out and
touched James's elbow, motioning for him to turn to face him.  "Let me get
a good look at you, James...."  James smiled and turned to face him
directly.  Avery scooted toward him and put a hand on his cheek, not
sensually but curiously.  He moved his fingers to James's temple and raised
his other hand to the other temple.

	"Avery!"  Sebastian said, turning around.  "What are you doing!?"

	"I'm reading him....  He doesn't seem to mind," the man said,
laughing, not at all noticing that James was leaning in more and more.

	"That's because ... your blood, Avery...."  In a flash, Sebastian
was at James's side, squeezing his hand firmly.  "Listen to me, James....
Focus on the sound of my voice....  James....  Control...."

	James shook his head, "Sorry....  What were we talking about?"

	Sebastian ran his hand through the boy's hair and kissed the side
of his head.  "Nothing, baby....  Avery wants to try one of his parlor
tricks on you, but listen, focus on his face and remember who and what he
is....  Don't let the scent of the blood mesmerize you...."  Avery got
closer and put his hands back on the boy's temples.

	"Hmmm....  Something ... what?"  Avery sat back and looked at
Sebastian, then James, then back at Sebastian.  "How old are you?"

	James looked at Sebastian, who shrugged.  "Seventeen, next
month...."

	Frustrated, Avery shook his head.  "How old are you, since you've
turned?"

	"Seventeen, next month...."

	"That," Avery said, shaking his head resolutely, "is not
possible...."

	"And yet, it is the case," Sebastian said, with finality.

	"Hmmm....  Perhaps....  Still....  But then again, it's nothing
like any vampire I've ever met....  Of all the vampires I've come across,
and remember, I was a consul, James ... I've never felt a vampire like
you....  There's something ... off about your aura....  And it feels so
... old....  Powerful...."  Again he shook his head.  "James....  Look into
my eyes....  Concentrate really hard on something you want me to do,
something you don't think I'd do otherwise....  Really concentrate...."

	James smiled, but noticed Sebastian had a very curious look.  He
looked into the man's eyes, and suddenly a very dirty idea came into his
head.  He smiled and concentrated....  As Sebastian watch wide-eyed, his
old friend opened his robe and reached into his silk pajama bottoms,
fishing out his ample manhood which was at attention.  Slowly, he began to
stroke himself with a faraway look in his eyes.  Rapidly he work his way to
orgasm, and at last shot his load on his chest.  James broke his gaze and
Avery shook his head, slowly realizing what he had been doing.  "Naughty
boy," he chastised with a grin, reaching for some tissues to wipe up with.
As he tossed the tissue into the trash bin, he asked, "Sebastian?"

	"What, aren't vampires supposed to have this mind-control," James
asked innocently.

	"Usually, it takes years to develop any skill to manipulate normal
humans....  And Avery is no normal human....  He honed his skill at
resisting over many years as a consul....  Many of his underlings would
have loved to take advantage of his human weakness, otherwise....  Now,
truth be told, I'm sure he wasn't resisting you very actively...."

	"I might have done had I known what your little imp had in mind....

      "But still, a vampire only risen two days ago has no business...."

	"Another test?"  Sebastian nodded and Avery called for Richard.
"Richard, if you don't mind, could you stand here and let James look into
your eyes?"  Richard did as he asked.  "Now James, as before, but ... let's
keep it rated R...."

	James looked at Richard and thought, what to do?  Richard began to
lean in, putting a hand on the boy's cheek.  When he was less than an inch
from kissing James, James let his mind clear and Richard stood dazed,
withdrawing his hand quickly.

	"I ... I'm sorry, I don't know what....  Sebastian, I...."

	Sebastian laughed.  "Not at all, Richard, not at all....  We were
just testing James's powers here and it seems we've got more questions than
answers....  It seems that he's developed enough power to exercise mind
control on other vampires...."

	"What," Richard asked, shocked.  "I still couldn't....  That's
... not possible...."

	"So I was saying," Avery said, "and nevertheless....  I'm at a
loss, my friends...."

	"Well, he did feed on me upon waking....  He would have attained
some of my...."

	"And that is an enormous boost, Sebastian, but in abilities, not so
much in power....  He has the power of a very old vampire, and the only
thing holding him back is inexperience....  He must be trained
immediately...."

	Sebastian nodded, "But you, my friend, must rest....  You have an
urgent task to undertake as soon as possible."

	"Indeed....  I planned to rest for two days, and go see the old hag
day after tomorrow...."

	Sebastian nodded, and said, "Call your brother....  I promised
him...."  Avery nodded and walked to a guest room.  When Avery was gone,
Sebastian gazed into the faraway space.

	"Have I done something ... wrong," James asked, looking nervous.
Sebastian smiled and put a hand on his cheek.

	"No, my beautiful boy," Sebastian said, "only very unusual, and
it's been an unusual sort of day...."

	"Tell me about it?"  James laid his head on Sebastian's chest and
curled up on the couch.  Sebastian smiled and recounted the events that had
occurred since the previous evening.



	Meanwhile, across the globe, in a private jet bound for the United
States, Consul Chang scurried to his private office.  Placing his palm on a
scanner, the door opened and he jumped as his chair rotated to reveal that
it was occupied.  The shadowy figure put his hands together in front of his
face, almost as if praying.

	"What's going on here," the man demanded angrily, reaching for the
button to summon security.

	The man said, "Please, don't do that....  You'll be dead before you
can press it," he added, leaning in.

       Wang gasped and froze before falling to his knee.  "My lord...."

       "Enough!  Sit...."  Wang slid into a seat, his knees wobbly.  "It
has begun...."

       "Salazar is back....  They are sending him to the Oracle...."

       The man just laughed.  "It's too late....  Far too late...."

       "Don't underestimate them....  Consul Sebastian and his allies are
very powerful...."

       The man looked at him, eyebrows raised, amused.  "Sebastian is far
older than you, but he is nothing to me....  Not anymore...."

       "I don't follow...."

       "You aren't supposed to, Chang," the man chuckled, sitting back and
chuckling to himself.  "Leave me....  And send a human in...."

       "What do you require?"

       "Oh, surprise me....  Then again, make it a boy, 14 to 17, if you've
got one," he decided, turning away as Chang retreated hastily.  "This is
going to be fun," the man laughed when he was alone.  He relished the
thought that the fight was about to come into the open and the approach of
the day when he could kill Chang, the weasel.