Trying To Save This Blog

So I put up another pointless post

Damn! Trying To Save My Blog!

So here is another pointless post.

Salvage

Post

If you come here first, check order of volumes

http://vergilxanon.blogspot.com/2010/10/xanon-chronicles.html

This is the 15th and last book of series

Closure

Closure



Table Of Contents

A Reflection On What was

Out Of Balance

Discretionary Moments Best Left Obscure

The Day After

Art Doesn’t Always Leave A Footprint

After The Last Surrender

Respite

The Clearing of Self

Moving On

The Last Fling













































































A REFLECTION ON WHAT WAS



After a short eternity, I was now all the way retired. I'd been a Gate Keeper since I was 17, and quite a few millennia later (if time were real), I no longer had a job. I should have been completely retired the day I moved out of my era, but me and mine ended up taking quite a few otherwise neglected cases by time tripping back, and just taking care of what we felt like doing for a while, as opposed to being on call all the time for necessary clients which were more or less assigned to us by destiny.

It was quite an existence I'd had. On a world wide level I'd been rather obscure, so I had a statistically light and easy existence. I was really more of an artist than a Gate Keeper. Being I had forever, I'd gotten into painting, poetry, music, architecture, landscaping, ice dancing and stunt riding way later in the game. I'd always been a nut for aesthetics. I liked being surrounded by beauty and peace.

I was something of a knowledge nut, and I also liked to read. What better way to spend solitude than in front of a fire with a good book, and an endless supply of tea? If I wasn't concocting a new idea for some new work of art, that is.

Reflecting on my past, I'd had one of the most wonderful existences existence had to offer. I'd only lived three lives as a mortal before choosing to come to Earth as a prince of the tribe of the Tuatha de Danaan.

My title never meant anything to me. I grew to despise it as I understood what it symbolised. I was just a kid in a typical dysfunctional household who's father was a slut that took a second wife who I really adored, and who's mother was a possessive, vindictive, powerful and rather tempestuous sorceress who didn't take kindly to daddy's philandering. Who could blame ma for being a bitch under the circumstances, despite the fact that I thought da's later love, Etain was a total dreamboat myself. Etain was a little prettier than my mother, and a hell of a lot nicer and more considerate.

On the other hand, Etain was a perpetual victim of circumstance. Ma (Fuamnach), was a maker of circumstance. Yes, ma did end up getting herself killed, but I did have quite a bit of respect for her. She didn't take anything lying down. She was a fighter, though I ended up terrified of women for a long old time because of her. Much to the dismay of everyone, it turned me into an avowed celibate for uh...let's just say I lost my virginity right when my era of existence changed to the next. I ended up being one of those who was rather proud of my chaste state. Quit unusual for a Tuatha male, but let's just say I had different priorities, but I did make up for it later...on and off. Kinda, sorta vaguely, anyway. There really were better ways of making out on the Etheric side of The Veil that had nothing to do with sex anyway, so I never thought I missed much.



*****



I'd been very lucky in my existence. Before my taking 'The Fall', and incarnating on Earth, I'd established a friendship and alliance with a very powerful entity. A Gate Keeper named Thanatos, who was the grandchild of Source. When he took a working form, he chose that of the mid-adolescent male who he was born; or would that be ‘made’ to be? An incredibly handsome, pale, black haired youth who guided those through with their mortal spans, to where they belonged. His form was unassuming, unintimidating, and good for the job. We'd had an incredible bond that was simply based on love. There was no reason behind it, and no need to do anything to demonstrate it. It just was.

Of course, in my 'lives' on Earth, I'd forgotten of it, but in between I did remember, and we got together again. My mortal lives had also been statistically short, so it wasn't too bad for either one o us.

My last desired incarnation on Earth was to be born to the Tuatha de Danaan. We could be killed, but we were immortal in our own right. Our kind was not native to Earth. We came from far away to settle on this Plane and planet, and we were not obligated to adhere to the laws of Physics. We were native to the Etheric Realm, but we could access other Planes, manifest things, and manipulate reality to a greater degree than the mortal natives after we learned how, if we'd been born on Earth.

Earth was out of our element. My kind all had our Otherworld abilities, but if we were born out of our natural element, we had to be taught how to use these abilities or we lost most of them. Those too lazy to develop to their full potential would live as the mortals in immortal bodies. There weren't too many of those. We were generally taught of our dormant traits in late adolescence. Too much power for one too young wasn't generally a good thing.

We tended to be incredibly beautiful, and stopped aging when we chose. We were also shape shifters, and telepathic communication was a norm with us, though generally with mutual consent. It was considered impolite to scan another's thoughts without permission.

I had chosen to be born to the Tuatha for a reason. I wanted to follow in Thanatos' footsteps to become a Gate Keeper in my own right, and one needed an uninterrupted state of consciousness to be so. One had to be potentially immortal, and not confined by the laws of Physics. Of course, I'd forgotten that when I was born.

I chose to be born into the House of Bri Leith to guarantee myself an excellent education. I was a favourite of my grandfather, Eochaid Ollathair, and he taught me well. I spent most of my time with him, and spent very little time with other children.

Eochaid knew what was destined for me, though I did not. He was in communication with Thanatos, and the two watched my progress. Thanatos even manifested a beautiful, very intelligent palomino pony for me to help get me through my later teen years, which did have some moments too interesting for my taste, due to the chronic fighting between my parents. Thanatos had given the animal to my grandfather to give to me. That pony was my best friend from when he was given to me; to past the time I would leave the Physical Realm.



*****



It had to happen eventually. My mother just got more and more volatile. Once during a nasty fight, my uncle...and...uh, oh, never mind. My family had some very sordid, convoluted relationships, and I don’t think I want to add any more to that. Anyway, Aengus Og killed her when Fuamnach basically sentenced a very vulnerable Etain to death. I know ma was one Hell of a shrew, I admit I loved Etain more, but I personally never had any problems with ma. She didn't pay that much attention to me, but what time I did get was never bad. Ma had always treated me very well. I adored her, and wished everyone could just get along, but yeah, riiiiiiiight.

I was devastated when I found out ma had been killed, and da and grandfather had me meet with Thanatos right after, so I could learn why my life was as it was, and what I was meant to be.

I didn't remember Thanatos from before, but his love for me was as great as ever. He blended himself into me on a metaphysical level. We became one. We were out of the illusion of time. It was forever, yet it wasn't. It was NOW! The eternal NOW! As Donn Ui’Midir, I'd never known a love that powerful could exist, or that I could feel it like that, or that it could be so unconditional. There was not a trace of lust, or anything else behind it. It just was. And Thanatos also taught me in an instant, all that I had forgotten, and all that every Tuatha should know.

Then we had to go our own way.

I left the Earth, then and there. I transferred to my native Etheric Realm, and set up shop as a young Gate Keeper on the lowest sublevel of the Etheric, right next to the Physical Realm. Indeed, it was where the realms overlapped. I could see Ireland, and the more sensitive could see my manifested island of Tech Duinn when they were in a state of heightened awareness.

I manifested a grand, beautiful castle with rooms dedicated to every major civilisation of my era. It made a good icebreaker for my clients if I could show them a room reminiscent of their culture. I also missed Thanatos, and spent every unoccupied moment longing for him. Then something happened that would make my unoccupied moments a quite bit more scarce!



*****



One ‘day’ not too long after I was settled into my new way of existence, the nightmare of my life appeared before me. Macha the Red! She bitched at me for freezing myself at 17 years of age. She like'd 'em a wee older, and in their full prime, though I have no idea how old I was supposed to be. It didn't seem like I'd been gone from Earth long enough to age much, but the illusory time frames weren't the same in the different realms.

Anyway, she made it obvious she had her sights on me. She touched me in such a way that set me on fire in a way I hoped to never feel again, and I was absolutely furious. I yelled at her, and told her to never do it again, right before desensitising myself so I could never feel that way again...or until I changed me mind...whichever came first.

I didn’t much like her at first, but she wouldn't go away. She also had a very powerful personality, and she manipulated me into a strange apprenticeship. I couldn't stand it, thought it was a waste of time, but found myself compelled to stay with the programme of her trying to make a warrior out of me, not that I would ever measure up.

There was one thing about Macha that I really did appreciate, however. She brought with her, Keith. A beautiful artificial construct who looked like what might look like in my early to mid twenties. Well, excepting that he was 18 centimetres (7 inches) taller than I, proportionately heavier, stark white from top to toe, and had neon eyes. He first met me as a pure white snow leopard, and it was love at first sight for him, though it took me what amounted to maybe fifteen minutes longer to take to him, after I recovered from passing out upon seeing him in human form.

The shock of meeting something like him was just too much. My mind couldn't process the concept.

We became best of friends, and in the beginning it was almost like he was a foster parent to me. Whenever I had any problem, he was always there for me. I ended up loving him as much as Hesper. It was a powerful, though platonic friendship and our contact was never more intimate than an embrace for the longest time.



*****



I also had another to distract me from my misery of missing Thanatos. A mortal. A lass named Kyle Shannon, whom I rescued from herself as she tried to destroy herself via a suicide attempt. She didn't forget me after the incident, and wouldn't leave me alone, in mind. She wrote me beautiful poetry, drew lots of pictures of what she remembered of me, and even went as far as writing a story of what her life could be like if I materialised for her. She remembered my pony, and she even remembered Keith, who she'd seen with me, though she didn't remember his name. In her tale, she called Keith, Rhynn. Not a bad name, but hey.

Kyle did get some things wrong. She initially thought I was Thanatos, she wrongfully portrayed me as the Pale Horseman of Revelation, and she even came up with an excuse for my accent, which she remembered, though she had it down as Scottish, not Irish. Damn Yanks!

But I'll not get into her story. It was not at all flattering to me, my moral code, or to anyone else she incorporated in the tale. It was a lusty phantasy that was even beyond what I would eventually engage in, and that was pretty far out, after I got rid of all my hang-ups. Let's just say after reading part of it, I had the longest, most volatile temper tantrum I ever had in my existence. I hated her guts for a while, until Keith talked some sense into me. Then I mellowed out a bit, and eventually grew quite fond of her. Obsessed even, in an artistic sort of way.

Hey, I did answer her poems, and through the years we wrote quite a nice set of verses to each other. She won me over with her art. It was a shared interest. Enough for me to take her on like my kind of yore. Me, Keith and Macha basically 'kidnapped' her from Earth, along with her boyfriend Kevin Foster, and her cat, Percy, a couple of years before they were due to be killed.

It was very strange. Immediately upon transfer, Kyle remembered her name before her last life. It had been Stephanie, so we called her that, or more commonly Stevie. In the beginning, anyway.

She still had the hots for me, and sex was the last thing I wanted. I got out of it by suggesting she take on a masculine façade, being her personality was more suited for a man, anyway. It worked, and we called him Stefan, being he preferred that to Stephen. The idea of being male and getting intimate with another male from a personal perspective was a bit awkward from her...uh...his perspective at the time, so that gave me an out. It wasn’t that the attraction had subsided. It’s just he had no idea how to relate, what to do with me, or how far he could go, so he basically ‘neutered’ himself for a while, like I had done to myself after when Macha originally tried to seduce me.

Oh, and Stefan didn't take on the masculine version of what he...or would that be 'she'd' been on Earth. Kyle had been a rather average looking woman who preferred a scraggly façade, but Stefan was total, picture perfect fox, even I had to admit...despite his 'enhanced' nose.

Gods, what it was to live someone with an alleged nose fetish. The jokes and games never ended.

Stefan and I would get intimate later, but platonically, and that was fine by me. As far as back rubs and snuggle sessions went, no one cared what the other gender was. Stefan would also help me out by becoming a Gate Keeper in his own right. It was a good way to get him to quit romantisising the position.

It was just a job. A pretty hard job, at that! I had to be careful of what cases I let Stefan have. He had such a high degree of contempt for humanity in general; I could only let him take care of certain cultures he sympathised with more than most, in the beginning. Every once in a while he handled his cases with absolutely no finesse, and I might have had to undo some damage, but I didn't get much into that in the early series.

As for Kevin, ‘Kyle’s’ boyfriend...he was more feminine in mind, so he switched gender and we called her Kevalyn. She had the hots for Macha, so she ended up with Macha, though taking her old masculine form for Macha in bed, being Macha was strictly straight. It roiled Kevalyn's stomach to contemplate sleeping with a man, so Stefan took on a feminine form to service Kev once in a while. Ah, what fun to have two individuals residing with you, and never knowing what gender they were going to be when you met them. I’m glad I couldn’t get a headache here.

Well, what ever.



*****



Time went on, and Keith started questioning who and what he really was. Being a new soul just didn't mesh with what he knew. And soon I would find out he knew a lot more than he let on. He was obsessed with omniscience, and he learned how to do things the rest of us had no clue on how to do.

We all could time trip. We could appear in any era at any time we felt like. Keith knew how to do it in such a way that he could divide himself up by time tripping. He was off studying everything he could get his hands on, while to us it seemed he was still with us. Eventually he did find out who he was, though he had to see the mother of his last life to confirm his suspicions, and find out the hows and whys behind it.

Keith had been Thanatos in his former life. Thanatos had destroyed himself by walking into a fire right after our last meeting because he couldn't bear to be apart from me anymore. He knew what Macha was going to do, so he invaded the body that Macha had put together for herself to make up for the fact that I wouldn't have her. Macha, and everyone else had thought she herself had made a completely new entity.

It wasn't so. She only made the body. The soul that occupied it was one of the most ancient, independent parts of The Source that was.

Keith was taught how to reconsolidate himself completely, and so he did, with Macha's help. She had to 'kill' the body of Keith, but keep the body in one piece while doing so. Macha broke his neck after his last wild night that he didn't even care about any more. The body disintegrated, the remains disappeared, and the body of the original Thanatos appeared in its place.

Macha covered him up with a blanket, and he basically told her things were not going to be between them as they were. He then dressed, and ran to me.

It was the happiest night of my life.



*****



We coexisted nicely, we evolved together, and I even grew to love Macha after I found out more about her, and how much respect she had for me. I was also getting increasingly curious on what I'd been depriving myself of. Oh, I was as fixated on my virginity as I could be, but did I want to stay that way forever?

I felt everything that could be felt from a vicarious perspective when I took on my cases, being I'd reflect on their entire lives with them and every last minute detail of what they went through, but what would it be like to actually engage in it for myself? I decided I wanted to lose my virginity at the end of my era. On Ahau Kankin, or when the Mayan calendar ran out, for those unfamiliar with the term. I wanted to do that with Thanatos, with one of us switching gender to make it official, of course. Thanatos said we already had each other in the only way that counts, and he told me to give myself to Stefan...or Stephanie; rather!

Sure. What the Hell? Thanatos and I made out hot and heavy to make sure I still worked, but let's just say we both stayed the same gender, and no one played the bitch. It was very nice. Any second thoughts I'd had about a male bed warmer had gone out the window quite a while ago and this confirmed why. After all, I'd already given him, and gotten from him enough back rubs, and other more 'innocent' massages to appreciate him in ways where gender wasn't really an issue. After all, he was beautiful, and I was an artist who could appreciate the aesthetics of both genders.

Stephanie and I got ready on Earth, on a Mexican beach just a few hours before the final moment. We drove each other over the edge a few times non-coitally, and finally connected about ten minutes before the moment arrived. We were in an empathic-telepathic union, so what one felt, the other felt. Stef did all the work. We just sat there in embrace with a blanket around us. Stephanie rhythmically contracted hard on me, and timed 'our' climax so it would happen right when the change of era occurred.

Thanatos transferred us to our new realm right after. When we ‘landed’ in our new home, both Stephanie and I looked at each other, and laughed our guts out over it all. She, over how silly she'd been in obsessing over having me like this, and me having been so fixated on retaining my virginity, which wasn't really anything of value in the general scheme of things. Not in my culture, anyway.



*****



We had landed in the High Etheric, in a place we called The White City. It was pretty close to the Astral, and very nice. At this stage of evolution, one could go Astral comfortably. Everyone there had a connection with each other, and the web of unity was a common, unconditional, higher love. It was odd, but before we got here, me and Stefan...Stephanie, whatever had planned to make up for lost time in the sexual intimacy department, but it never happened. It's like our interest became turned off after we got here. We made many new friends, lived for art, put tons of our works in a museum called The Gallery, and had a lot of fun. We explored all aspects of this realm, and how different cultures lived in it. It was a nonstop party of general amusement, and learning. We also added a new member to our family named Deliah Nebenzahl. The most beautiful woman I ever saw still to this day, and perhaps the most intelligent mortal I ever knew of any gender. A pure, proud Mizrahi Jewess who recognised other people as equals, and who thought the Ashkenazis were a bunch of posers who gave Jews a bad name. She didn’t come down on the Sephardic Jews, but she didn’t recognize them as being ‘real’, either; considering from an ancestral perspective, they weren’t.

Well, some Ashkenazis were pretty bad in the financial and political fields but they were few and far between. I liked most Ashkenazis I'd run across. The extremist corrupted nutters made up a minority. Unfortunately a vocal, powerful minority, but most weren't out to enslave or destroy all the gentiles.

Deliah! In life so conservative, though for not the conventional reasons! No man was good enough for her, and she didn't like sharing her time or anything else with anyone on a long term basis. She was another knowledge hungry individual, who was a life long student. An aristocrat, as well! She had an excellent memory, excellent problem solving skills, and no patience with the idea of compromising her personal sovereignty with anyone. She was a very liberated woman before it came into fashion, according to the history books, anyway.

There were quite a few liberated women in the past, really. The transcripts aren't going to tell you that, but if people knew the real truth about the past, the boat of modern civilisation would be pitch polled. Those who think they are in charge can't have that.

Well, no man had been good enough for Deliah in life, but apparently we were, though some of us weren't ever technically men. At least not in the conventional sense! Deliah grew increasingly obsessed with our past, which I had written about, and with us. Well, me, Thanatos, and Stefan, mostly. She wanted us. When Deliah wanted something, she generally got it. Her desire wasn't instinctive. It was motivated by the curiosity regarding all she'd missed. The instinct for sex was very subdued here, to say the least, if it existed at all. Like I said earlier in this chapter, there were way better ways of making out here, and they all left sex in the dust.

She did still want to experience Stefan, Thanatos, and myself just to see what we were like. That was a bit of a problem. For this period, if Stefan were to have anyone, he wouldn't consider anyone but Thanatos and I, and when I did reluctantly offer myself to her, she didn't want a lover with cold feet, so I lucked out, but she did persuade the issueless Thanatos. Well, one outta three ain't bad. Especially when you get the most exotic of the lot.

Thanatos. Ah yes. He did instigate an episode with me in the realm of The White City. We finally consummated our relationship completely, though without polarity. I never dreamed how good it could be. It was heavy on Tantra, and that made it even better. Then he dragged me High Astral. The only reason it happened, was it hadn't happened before. We didn't plan to do it again, though that concept would go to the wayside later.



*****



Because of Deliah, Thanatos decided to have us relive our time at Tech Duinn, with Deliah included on this run. My journals of our adventures would be given to everyone the moment they arrived, and we would live the span again, though with more knowledge, and without ninety odd percent of the dysfunctionality of the original time.

Oh, it was wild. I was fairly discreet in my writings, but for a while we had a lot of rather sensual fun with each other, every which way. We made the Kama Sutra go on par with the 'Dick and Jane' primer books. Oh, there was never any pain, or anything gross, but we had our fun with role playing, leather, light bondage, experimental positioning, two on one in every combination, modified furniture, water pressure, and a billion other things until we got so damn bored with it all that we burned ourselves out completely for a while.

We had several extended celibacy stints along our way to now, and you did have to be comfortable with the concept to move on, because sex ended at the Etheric Level. You had to get over it. We did, on and off for a while. We moved on, we added a few more people to our 'family', and one did a complete mental merging with Percy the cat to create the most arrogant, sarcastic, intelligent, lovable hybridised personality in existence.



*****



Somewhere in our escapades, we built a black castle in the High Etheric version of a red-skied planet that had its axis perpendicular to its star. Thanatos arranged for it to have a room that accessed the Akashic Library, direct. It was grander than Tech Duinn, and the area it was on was at twilight's edge. The sun never rose much, nor did it go down all the way. The planet had seven moons, a distant second star, and it was the ultimate dream for the intellectual, the art lover, the science fiction nut, and the astronomer, among other things. It was incredible, and we kept going back to it even when we existed mostly Low Causal.

Despite our advancements, we couldn't keep ourselves from revisiting the lower planes. The fact that we had some newer individuals with us who were more recent 'transfers' didn't help. They weren't on the same page with us, and in our mind shares, they became a part of us, as well as we a part of them, not that this was bad. It made all of us more complete, as far as relating to each other went.



*****



One day Stefan had an idea that persuaded us to come out of complete retirement. We did, with the additional gentle prodding of the Death Angel, Azrael, who'd moved in with us and Thanatos, who had both come to the conclusion we should do just a little more to help with our reunification efforts of Source. We would take a case, create a parallel reality for the individual the nano-second they ‘died’, and have some fun as they didn’t know they were ‘dead’ yet. With Stefan, that fun might have meant at the expense of the individual some times, but most of the time we gave the person the time of their existence up to that point in the form of an adventure that was a complete dreamboat of an experience as to what actually happened.

Right when we started, Stefan also persuaded someone else to join our family of another species. An archaeopteryx named he'd named Reggie. Reggie was hybridised, ended up becoming best friends with Percy, and he ended up being quite helpful on some of our cases, along with Percy. It was really quite a blast, and quite different from being an obligatory Gate Keeper.

Still, we had to retire all the way for good one day.









































































OUT OF BALANCE



Our own White City had been built in back of the Akashic Castle. It was a monument to the Gate Keepers of all cultures. Two of our adoptees and Azrael had built the thing. Well, it was the idea of the adoptees, and Azrael actually put it together. The adoptees were Deliah, and Ronin Sakanashi; the Japanese paragon who was finally good enough for the wild Deliah to settle down and bond with on the deepest level possible.

A statue of Thanatos and I guarded the front gate of The City. We had claymores crossed over the threshold. I was now staring at those statues.

Thanatos! I reflected on when my father and grandfather took me to him after the killing of my mother. How he made the pain of that knowledge not matter any more. How he made me know a love I'd forgotten about. How he inspired me to become what I was. How he promised one day we'd meet again at the end of time, whatever the Hell that meant.

He kept his promise, though neither one of us knew. He did meet at the end of time. The end of his time, for he’d destroyed himself after our meeting...to come to me in a new form that matched my own in all but colour, stature, and appearance of age.

I felt a tear go down my right cheek, and I smiled. And when he came back to me as Keith, he did a better job of keeping me sane than anything. Living with Macha, and dealing with Kyle Shannon, I needed all the help I could get, some times.

I focused on Than's statue. "You've done so much for me, but what have I ever really done for you?"

I felt an arm go around me. "You just are."

I looked at him. Thanatos was dressed like the statue. His sparring clothes! Boots, loincloth, gauntlet, torque, Baldric harness with sword! I embraced him. "Still always there when I need you."

He kissed me on the temple. "So are you."

"Like you need anyone?"

"I wouldn't be like this if it weren't for you, and I wouldn't want to be any other way."

"It's been a long time since we were here," I said.

“If time were real, aye. We're coming back less and less."

"It's so beautiful, but at the same time being here leaves me feeling kind of empty. Sometimes I feel like the Lower Planes are just a cosmetic front, these days."

He kissed my nose. "I know what you're feeling, and I'm rather glad you said that. It's getting to be a general consensus with the rest of us. But now that we're here, let's go in and walk."

I looked up at the statues, and laughed. "As are the statues, so are we dressed!"

"I'm not wearing the bracelet," said Thanatos."

I shrugged. "Minor detail."



*****



We sometimes walked hand in hand, sometimes we ran all out, and we even got silly and danced down one of the streets.

It was so weird, eerie, and wonderful being here. The dark violet sky above us, the red horizon on one side of us, five of the moons were visible, and the only noise was the wind and our soft-soled boots hitting the white cobbled streets.

I chuckled. "I feel like a small child at the fair, or something."

"I'm enjoying this quite a bit myself."

"It was built for us. We might as well have some fun with it," I said.

"I couldn't agree with you more."

"Thanatos, is there anything I can do for you?"

"You are. You're there. I don't need or want anything more. Get over the idea you owe me anything. You don't!"

I threw myself at him, and wrapped myself around him. "Gods, I love you so much and it's like there's no way to demonstrate it."

He held me back. "Donn, oh Donn. You do! Over and over again, with every thought you have. With your whole being! Cut it out!"

"Sometimes I wonder. What can you do for one who's completely self-contained and needs or wants nothing?"

He stroked my hair. "You give me the one thing I do appreciate. The only thing that matters! The thing I suppose I'll never get enough of. The thing that must never end! Love!"

I started crying a little. "Thanks, babe."

He pulled his right arm back, put his hand under my chin, and made me look at him. "Donn," he said with a soft smile.

"Aye?"

"I think you oughta get laid."

I must admit that was the last thing I expected him to say. I did a double take, and the statement got me laughing so hard, I sank to my knees. I can’t say it was true, but it had been a while, and while it hadn’t really occurred to me at the moment, I wasn’t opposed to the idea. Not with Thanatos, anyway.

At least he got me in a better mood. Like always, he knew when to say the right thing, though this statement coming from him was a bit uncharacteristic.

He wouldn’t be alone with me.























































DISCRATIONARY MOMENTS BEST LEFT OBSCURE



Stefan lay face up, on top of me. I was holding him like my existence depended on it. I'd just been delicately taken to a real weird, intense, absolutely explosive zenith in a rare more basic intimate interlude, but it still just wasn't enough to mitigate the void I was feeling. It never was, anymore. It had been a short eternity since we last did this, but if we didn't move Astral from our present Etheric state, I would have felt very hollow. It had felt so good from a sensationalistic perspective, but emotionally, I felt a bit short changed. To me, this preliminary was just self-centred hedonism. Especially when you were one of the more passive parties.

Stefan, panting slightly, said, "We're done. I want to move to my side."

Thanatos moved to our sides, and caressed Stefan's cheek. "What are you out of breath for? I was the one who did all the work.”

Stefan smiled, as I rolled him and me to the left, forced both of us on our sides, and I disconnected myself from him. "You know how it is," he said. "You dragged me out like no one else could."

"Dragged us out, but we've got to move on," I said to Stefan. "I got the best or worst of that, depending on how you look at it. Considering I was the enhancing feature of your blow job, I feel like I got the most delicate culmination that could exist, in my own right."

Thanatos got behind me, and scraped his fangs on my shoulder very gently. He then kissed me on the temple. "Probably, if you were fool enough to disconnect your mind from ours, which thankfully you weren’t. Let me take us over."

I closed my eyes, and nodded. The three of us had faded to a lower density, and we shifted Planes in stages first to the Astral, the Causal, then the Mental, with another pinnacle at each level. That would be the end point for this make-out session.

The complete ensuing loss of individuality is what did it for me. The unity, and the total knowledge of what we felt for each other! This state was the only true way I could convey what I wanted. Anything less would have left me hanging.

When it was over, I felt very good in every way possible. It was an awesome ending, as always. Then we went back to where we started.



*****



I had this incredible urge to hit the ice, as Thanatos. Stefan and I were staring at the fire on the main couch of the Akashic Castle.

Both Than and Stef picked up on it. "You know, what I miss?" asked Stefan.

"Rocking out on solid ground like how you used to do at the night clubs when you were in your early 20's," said Thanatos.

"All the way," said Stefan.

"We could do that, too," I said. "That sounds like fun. The best from the 1960's and early 70's?”

"Sure. Want to cut loose in one of the halls sans statuary, and just have a free for all?" asked Stefan.

I shrugged. "Never done it before. Why not? Chuck Berry, Castaways, Chicago, Tina Turner, Doors, Janis Joplin, and Beatles!"

“I’d love that. We can skate later,” said Stefan.

"OK, then let's hit the far dark pole hall on the fourth floor," I said. "I wonder. Should I stay in my tunic, or switch to britches?"

“I’m going in leather with the Alice Cooper slash Mötley Crüe look,” said Stefan.

I smiled. "Shall I paint my face, and make the hair black for the occasion?"

"And the nose?" asked Stefan. "Alice Cooper's sexy nose?????"

I sighed. "Vincent Damon Furnier does have quite a nose, but I'm not sure you'd be comfortable if you had such competition, STEFAN!" In reality, Stefan’s nose was about the size of Alice Cooper’s. It was just shaped a differently, being thoroughly aquiline.

Stefan shrugged. "I guess that's a no."

"Darn tootin'" I said.

Thanatos tilted his head. "What would you look like in black hair?!"

I shrugged. "Only one way to find out, and for this one little private bash, why not!"

Stefan smiled. "Go!"

I stood back, faded out, and came back as something totally different. Black hair, two horizontal stripes across cheeks, one angled stripe going back under those stripes, vertical stripe down the chin, thin painted moustache, and omega on my forehead. As for the clothes, low platform boots, leather pants that were laced up the outer legs, vest, dog collar, wrist bands piled on to three quarters up the elbow on the right forearm, thin glove on right hand, mirrored shades, and leather headband. "How's that?"

Stefan smiled. "Awesomely sexy. You're pale enough as not to need white face paint under the black."

Thanatos scowled. "What if that was a stylised beard and moustache, as opposed to paint?"

"Interesting concept. Let's see," I said.

I did another fade out, and another personal reformat, though of course the Omega was a temporary tattoo.

"Uber cool," said Stefan when I came back.

Thanatos looked at Stefan. "I think I want to go to bed with him again."

"Tell me about it," said Stefan.

I crossed my arms, and tilted my head. "Hey!"

Thanatos winked at me. "Later. Now, let's dance!"

"Put another dime in the jukebox, baby," said Stefan.

I took a hammy disco pose. “Oh, yeah!”

Thanatos materialised a sound system, and we went at it.

Oh gods, that ended up being a riot and a half. It was definitely something to repeat.

No, we didn’t go skating afterward. Nor did we go for another hot and heavy make-out session.



*****



Thanatos, Stefan, and I ended lying in the grass under an olive tree in the Elysian Fields, when Thanatos said, "There's a case where a chick got shot by her ex at a down town bar in Topeka. 1986, and no one took her on."

"I thought we were through with that. You actually want another job?" asked Stefan.

"I think so. Just this once," said Thanatos. He suddenly became very alert, and sat up. "It's more than want. I NEED this case. Something very ancient just came back to haunt me. Donn, can you help me?"

I closed my eyes, and focused on her. "Volatile personality. She’s something of a bitch. I haven’t seen anything that self-centred in forever. Borderline psychopath. I don't know." I was still in black hair and sculpted face fur on request. I had to admit, I found this look rather intriguing too, though I wouldn't keep it for much longer.

"Leave me out," said Stefan.

I sat up. "I'm not sure. I don't think I like this one."

My facial stripe design suddenly appeared on Thanatos, though all of it as a tattoo. He got up, straddled me, and put his hands on my shoulders. "I have to take her. This is personal for me. I don't know why, but I also really, really want you now. Desperately. I don't know what's wrong with me. I guess it's that façade you're wearing, but I want that lady too, in the same way. She means something to me. Not what she is now, but her entire being! I’ll tell you later." He was letting know me exactly what he felt. It became a part of me.

I wrapped myself around him. "Gods, you've transferred that to me!"

Stefan sat up, and looked at us. "You two have something to resolve, huh?"

Thanatos closed his eyes, and embraced me tight. "I know I do. Just an impulse to do a little something I've never done before. Something real old has come back to bite me in the ass right now, but I can’t talk about it just yet."

I smiled. "I haven't felt this...um...distracted since I was 16 or 17, myself. I'll work with you, and hopefully I won't regret it."

He let go of me, and brushed my hair back. He kissed me on the forehead. "I don’t think you will. Can you pretend to be a real Tuatha male just once? With that beautiful bitch and me?"

“I must admit I rather feel like one, thank you,” I said to Thanatos. "There's no feigning needed, if you care to check." I had to admit I was quite uncomfortable.

"I know that's not necessary," said Thanatos with a smile.

Stefan chuckled. "Oh, maybe I'll play the bartender. Keep you two out of trouble."

Thanatos looked at him, and chuckled. "There’s no way you can do that, but you may join us after we're through with Lucy?"

"I might take you up on that," said Stefan.

"How's about as a chick? I'm in a one of each type of mood," said Thanatos. “It’s the best way to go.” Indeed it was.

Stefan laughed. "What happened to you?! I’ve personally never seen you so interested in sex."

He pointed at me. "That, in conjunction with an ancient Keithy dream. Right now, I just feel a hundred percent Keith. This is going to be it, though. After we're through this time, my current state of mind isn't coming back. I'm sorry, but I feel absolutely insane right now, for more reasons than one. I mean look at him!"

"Am I supposed to be flattered or offended?" I asked.

Keith embraced me again. "You're more beautiful than beautiful. You also know I love you for way more than your present look, which is only one Hell of a diversion for the time being."

I chuckled. "Until the novelty wears off?"

“Love, I hope you give me more credit than that. This will not happen again. Trust me. I mean after this case is settled all the way.”

“I was a’bein’ sarcastic, and ye ken it.”

He tilted his head and caressed me in such a way I was tempted to take him then and there.

Well, I did get even, though his only response was smile and a wink.



*****



Her name was Lucy Verona, but she introduced herself simply as Vixen off the job. A vain, egotistical, gothic Italian beauty with a diva complex whom left Sophia Loren in the dust in the looks department. Her face was painted white, and she wore black nail polish, black lipstick, and had her eyes done up like a cat. Her raven hair was long, thick, and wavy. She was a toned, well proportioned, beauty in fishnets, stiletto sandals, a side slit miniskirt, leather halter top, silver bracelets, necklaces, dog collar, and cape. She out Elvirad Elvira! I'm surprised she didn't have fangs. She'd just dumped her boyfriend this morning, and she was out for new prey.

'Keith' and I intercepted 'Vixen' two minutes before she would get her head blown off. She would never know what hit her. Her mind had been abducted into an illusion whilst her Physical body was on autopilot before it was destroyed.

Of course I'd be going as Vergil Xanon. I still had the black hair and all, though I’d gotten rid of the moustache. If I was going to have something to drink, I didn’t like hair over my upper lip. Keith still had his face tattooed in the mirror image of my own. We'd walked into the Etheric mirror image of the tavern arm in arm, and we were obviously very focused on each other. Actually, we really were. It wasn't an act. No, I did not wear the mirrored sunglasses to the bar.

Keith sat down next to Vixen, and I sat down next to Keith. "Earl grey," I said to Stefan who actually did come to act as bar tender and barista.

Keith raised his hand. "Hazelnut latte!"

"Comin' right up," said Stefan. He handed me a cup of steaming water with a teabag, and he went to the machine to start working on making Keith's latte.

I rubbed the side of my face into Keith's shoulder, and he put his arm a round me with a touch that made the fire burn in me even higher.

Vixen looked at us. "Why do all the foxy dreamboats have to be gay?"

Keith looked at me. "Maybe we ought to patent a bumper sticker that says, 'Too Cute To Be Straight'?"

"Maybe," I said.

Vixen looked at Keith's eyes. "Cool with the eyes. How'd you do that?"

"I didn't. Ask Dr. Macha."

"You two look so much alike. Are you related?"

"Not in the slightest," I said.

"You know, I love the way you move. You're more graceful than a cat, but who's the pretty one, here?" asked Vixen of Keith.

Keith and I looked at each other, Keith winked, and we pointed at each other.

Vixen laughed. "That's funny, and I can see where you’re coming from. Now, who's the bitch?"

I scowled, and Keith caught it. Talking about impolite! Sheesh! We both pointed at Vixen.

She laughed even harder. "I deserved that, didn't I?!"

"Totally," said Keith.

"I'm Vixen. What's your guys' names?!"

"I’m Keith, and my lover's Vergil. This one, anyway."

"Kayth. That’s nice. You have more than one lover?"

Keith cocked his head and looked at Vixen. He smiled, baring his fangs. "It’s spelled K-e-i-t-h. We pronounce things a little different in Erin. Our other partner is Stephanie."

She noticed his teeth. "Oooooooooh. A vampire. Good job on the teeth. Are they implants?"

"Aye," said Keith, as we both looked at her with airs of obvious interest, trying to appear as lecherous as possible. That was quite easy right now.

"Love the accent, too. So, you all play both sides, huh?"

"We do," I said. "We're from Ireland, by the way." The accent had scored major points with her. I just wanted to verify to her, what we were.

"Open relationship, by chance?" she asked.

"Are you making a pass at us?" I asked.

"If you aren't sick, sure."

Keith turned to me. "She is one hot broad." Get the politically incorrect one back! “I’d do ‘er.”

"So that’s a yes?" she asked.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure. I mean, Stef is still back home, and I’m not used to going for this long with only my boyfriend."

"So I can have both of you at once?"

Keith's left eyebrow went up. "I don't see why not. We've got a pretty good synchronization, considering we’ve had enough practise."

"I've never done this before, but have always been curious. You guys aren't into anything too weird, are you?"

Keith scowled. "We’re very gentle. Only variations of sex in itself not dealing with pain! Nothing disgusting. No golden showers, doo-doo, blood, or any of that perverse crap. Some equipment's OK, battery operated or otherwise, not that we personally use vibrators."

I rested my elbow on the bar, and put my chin in the palm of my hand. "Since you're making the pass, do you pay for our tea and latte?"

Vixen laughed. "For something like you? That's a steal!"

Keith looked at me. "For her, or for us?"

Vixen almost fell out of the chair with that one.

After a few more cups of tea, latte, and some pretty wild conversation, which almost sent Vixen to the ends of the Universe with laughter, we went to her place. She drove.

Stefan himself had needed to do several time-trips to recover him self, we had him laughing so hard with our bawdy banter before we left the place.



*****



This woman was pretty well off. She was in real estate, and she was good. Her ravishing looks helped, and she was also a good manipulator. She reminded me of a darker, more selfish Deliah Nebenzahl. She was almost as beautiful as Del, but I didn't want this lady around me for the long term. She was an arrogant user. I don't even know why Keith wanted to take her on. Granted, she didn't need to have her head blown off, but I couldn't see what he saw in her, as far as the personality went.

"Want something to drink before we start anything?" she asked.

"No thanks. We had enough at the tavern," said Keith.

"Are you circumsised?" She was looking at me.

"No," I said "How barbaric! Neither one of us."

She took her nose to us, and inhaled. "Good! I'd like to start in the tub. It's underground and it's huge. I love what you guys smell like. I assume you won't need a shower first?!"

"Technically, not," I said. "We're recently laundered, I'm wearing jasmine, and Keith wears sandalwood."

"What's your guys' sizes?!"

"Not too impressive," said Keith. "Marginally more than average, but nothing terribly disconcerting." He looked at me. "We're about...um...seven inches and have maybe diametres of roughly an inch and a quarter or so."

I scowled "You measured me?"

Keith shrugged. "Uh, no. We're pretty much the same."

“You measured yourself?!” I had to say.

“I didn’t have to. I just know. You’re damn well aware how I am at judging things like that.”

I smiled. “Aye. You never miss a target.”

Lucy was chuckling. "You two sound like a dream team. I wouldn't want a monster cock up my ass, anyway."

I cringed. That comment did nothing for me. Well, actually, it did. It turned me off like a light switch. I was beginning to want to back out of this. A part of me, anyway! Keith caught my mood, came up behind me, and ran his hand delicately down my chest, midsection, over my shaft, and he sent me a reminder of what he was feeling.

OK. I wasn’t going anywhere.

When Vixen saw what Keith did, she about swooned. Oh, what style. The gentle, artistic flow of the perpetual ballet dancer!

I; myself was getting increasingly irritated, by my too tight pants!



*****



Vixen looked us over after we’d undressed, and she was astounded. "I have NEVER seen anything as good looking as you two, ANYWHERE! I love the fact you're totally shaved."

"Not shaved," said Keith, as he came behind her, and delicately wrapped him self around her, while he gave me a smile and a playful snarl. "We don't grow hair anymore in any places we don't want to."

Vixen reached behind herself, and gently held Keith's presently quite attentive shaft. "Nice." It was obvious whom she wanted first, not that I held it against her. Hey, I wanted him more than her, too, so we were even.

"Thanks, I guess," said Keith. He looked at me, and he was wearing an expression of total exasperation. There was a bit of distaste there. Vixen’s priorities were not where it was at as far as we were concerned, but oh well.

Vixen led us to the bathroom, and turned the water on. She poured a whole bottle of rose bubble bath in, not even asking us if we minded. Figures, not that we did care! She wiped her make-up off, and then she turned her attentions on us. She caressed us both as the tub filled up, though her main focus was still Keith.

After we got in the tub, Vixen and Keith didn't connect right away. He wouldn't hear of it. It wasn't our style. He manipulated her to the edge so she was begging both of us to get in her, then Keith metaphysically lubed himself up and that part of him went very delicately to where the sun don't shine. He thrust a couple of times, and then sat himself and Vixen down, still connected. I went over to them, and Keith worked on Vixen's more sensitive parts by hand, as she worked on me either by hand or by tongue, as I was still standing. She was nowhere near as good as any of my housemates, but I couldn't complain too much. It still felt pretty good.

I stroked her hair, and ran my finger down her cheek. I closed my eyes. "I'm not feeling guilty."

"Neither am I," said Keith. "No need to. It’s all right."

‘But really! Why are we doing this? We usually don’t take on people like her.’ I sent Keith mind to mind. ‘She’s OK, but I wouldn’t have gone out of my way for her.’

‘Because of who she is, and the experience is there. I’ve never done anything like this, I need it to move on, I need you to be a part of it, and trust me! After this is over, you'll be glad you did.’

'Who is this lady?'

Keith only smiled, ‘Later.’

"What are you two talking about? If you have an open relationship, what's there to feel guilty over?" asked Vixen.

"Nothing. It's just personal issues," said Keith.

Vixen chuckled. "I'm between you two, and you're talking personal issues?"

Keith scraped his fangs carefully on her right shoulder, and manually took her just to the edge. "Yes."

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! OH, GOD! OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD!!!!!!!!" She more or less screamed.

To the edge, but not over!

"Which one?" I asked, repeating the old one-liner, as I put my hand on her left shoulder.

"Who cares?! Oh, dammit Vergil! Get in me. And Keith, next time you do that, don't you dare stop!"

What horrible circumstances for me to connect myself with her. The floor of the tub was in the worst place. The positioning couldn't get much more awkward. Still, I leaned against her, and did as she requested; not that I'd be able to move without losing that connexion. I did my best to embrace both her and Keith. Keith did the same, with Vixen and I, but of course she could only wrap herself around me. It kind of all worked out, and I even managed to get somewhat comfortable, kinda, sorta, vaguely. Well, at least to the point where I could almost relax without falling.

I kissed her temple, closed my eyes, and scanned her mind to find out why she was as she was.

Yes, another spoiled rich kid with not many limits set on her in her younger years, and not much direction or supervision. A beautiful spoiled rich kid. At least her parents encouraged intellectual development, so she was no ignoramus. In fact, she was damn intelligent. She knew how the world worked, and she used that knowledge to get what she wanted. She was about as egotistical as you can get, and painful to relate to because you basically got put through the blender when you tried. It's not that she set out to damage anyone. She just hurt people because it was her way or the highway. She couldn't empathise with others, and had no patience with anyone else's needs. It was me-me-me!

She wasn't out to control anyone, or limit them in any way. She just refused to be inconvenienced in the slightest with her personal agendas. Her last boyfriend had ended up being an inconvenience due to other obligations he had which she would not accept, but he wasn't into unconditional relationships himself. After she told him she didn't want to see him again, he got even. He'd invested a lot in her, for nothing. He got pissed out of his gourd, and shot her right in the tavern. It was her favourite hangout, so he knew where to find her.

Yes, ‘Barry’ got taken down then and there. A customer plastered him and held him for the police, but that's not a story I'm going to tell, for there is no point to it.

Vixen's history was typical for her type, though she could have been a lot worse. On the other hand, with proper guidance, she could have been a lot better. With...proper...guidance.

She contracted on me. Sweet. It felt great. 'Mindshare with her?' I asked Keith telepathically.

'Little bit! Let's melt that ice-bitch's heart.' He blew me a kiss.

I nodded.

We both inundated her with the unconditional love of Source that everything had a primaeval right to. It had an immediate effect. It was like the best drug in existence. Instant euphoria, peace, and everything good! She opened her eyes, held me tighter, and started contracting on me…um...us, like wildfire. Keith felt what she was doing, though not in the same way as me, in his own right. It was a lighter pressure for him, hence a more agonising pleasure. But we were in a mind share, so he vicariously felt what I felt, and what Vixen felt, and we forced her to feel what we felt. Needless to say, the end result was uh...well, it took a long time to get to that end result, it was pretty drawn out in an excruciating sort of way, but when we went over, we REALLY went over. Keith made no sound, I almost drew blood from my lower lip in biting down to keep from screaming, but Vixen cut loose a toenail-curling yell of ecstasy. If we were still on Earth, the cops probably would have been called, due to the fact she probably could have been heard in Missouri. She was at least as bad as Macha and Deliah have been known to be, as far as being a screamer goes. Maybe worse.

We stayed in our three-way embrace for a while after it was over. "I never felt so good as now in my entire life," said Vixen.

I chuckled. And you never will, Vixen. You're not technically alive right now.

Keith said, "It felt pretty good from my end, too."

"I never thought I'd cum like that," said Vixen.

Keith cupped her breasts. "You can't, in your own right."

"What's that mean?" she asked.

I brushed my hand over Keith’s right hand to move it a bit, and I mouthed her right nipple. "We'll explain...later." Oh, this was great.

Keith ran his hands over her body with a very light touch. "Let's go to bed now to make the rest a little easier on us. Shall me and Vergil trade places?"

She tilted her head, and smiled at me. "Do you want to?"

Considering what it felt like to even just lay there in the 'other room' if Keith thrust, I'd be a fool to turn it down. And if I also moved?! From a sensationalistic perspective, it was pretty over the top. And having experienced it from the woman's standpoint as well, it was out of the galaxy. Hey! I didn't write about it in 'The Second Time Around', but it happened often enough then, among other things. "I have no objections," I said trying my best to sound unenthusiastic and more detached than I was. We got out of the water, and Vixen drained the tub. We dried off, and she said, "I don't feel like I have anything in me," she said. "I don't seem to be dripping."

"There's nothing there to drip from us. We have parts of ourselves decommissioned, so we're not going to make any kind of mess," said Keith.

"Convenient. You know, I think I can fall in love with you two," said Vixen.

"That's your prerogative," I said, as I led her to the bed. Satin sheets, of course. Only they were violet, not black like ours.

"Will I ever see you again after this?" she asked.

"Most definitely," said Keith. "Not like this, though. After tonight, we won't want to do this again.

"Either of you?"

I shook my head. "No. There's better ways to be intimate. We showed you already. When we were locked in the three-way embrace? Remember how you felt? Actually, how you still feel? To know that love?"

"Yes. You did this to me? Made me feel this good? Almost like I'm drugged?"

Keith ran his fingers down the centre of her sternum. "It's a psychic thing. Yes."

"I've never felt anything like this before. I'm higher than I've ever been. Psychic?"

"Like I said before, we'll explain everything later," I said, as I lay down.

Vixen lay down, too. I didn't just get in her, either. Both Keith and I went over her in every way we could think of. When Keith was down on Vixen, and in the middle of taking her to a very titillating culmination, I slowly did a rear entry to intensify the sensations even more, and I must remember to wear earplugs the next time I do that. I didn't thrust or move in any other way, and just stayed as I was after she hit climax.

When she recovered, she got more foreplay from both Keith and I concurrently, with me still connected to her. When she was on the edge again, Keith entered her. We both thrust, and held back our own culminations. Keith overpowered her mind, and forced her to feel the best of what there was to feel for quite an extended period. It was a bitch holding on to her so she couldn't pull away, but hey! I managed. She was no Macha, or Stephanie. I couldn't have restrained either of those two housemates of mine for the life of me.



*****



"I never knew I could feel so wonderful," said Vixen. "Either physically, or mentally."

Keith and I were staring at each other. "Well, you've never been with the likes of us before," said Keith. Suddenly, he referred to me by my real name. "Donn, I really, really, really want you. Not just here. All the way! I am turned on by you, like I don't think I've ever been turned on before."

"Just because of my hair colour and what passes for a beard?" I asked.

"Mostly, but not all," said Keith as he ran his right index finger down my nose.

"What?" asked Vixen.

"I'm naturally a redhead, and I'm also usually free of face hair," I said.

"And your face isn't messed up," said Vixen to Keith.

"It’s not paint. Tattoos don't smudge. You're beautiful without make-up, by the way," said Keith.

"Thanks. Tattoo? Oh, what a trip. After this, I don't know how I'll be able to live without you guys!"

"Well, you won't have to for a while," I said.

"But you won't fuck me again after this night?"

Keith shook his head. "After we leave here. There wouldn't be a point to it, but don't worry. You'll see it our way after we show you, and you'll be OK." He manoeuvred himself beside me. He ran his hand down my chest, lipped my nipples, my midsection, and I felt his fangs gently scrape my inner thigh.

I bent my left leg, raising my knee. "Keith! Please!" I was almost in pain from the longing.

Vixen asked, "Can I help?"

"I suppose so," said Keith, just before I felt his tongue go up the underside of my shaft, which had been metaphysically sterilised. So carefully I felt those fangs of his scrape its length next. Oh, then the vortex sensation of his tongue going around it for a moment, then those lizard lips of his going up and down the entire length, and Vixen joining him in servicing the rest of my nether regions in any way logistics allowed.

OK. No, this was not new to me, but it has been quite a long while. Uh, wow! I felt a pressure against my sphincter when I was almost at apex, and then...I exploded! A lubed finger went in. I admit it! I myself, screamed! I couldn't help it. It was just too much. Was there a sensation that passed the combination of being fellated whilst something moved up your rear right at the moment of climax?

Keith was next in line to be serviced, and though Vixen and I did to him what he and her had done to me, we ended up doing a bit more with him. We were on our sides, and Vixen finished him off by kegelling the Hell out of him while I was in him. That wasn't new to Keith and I, but hey. While that was going on, I managed to give him a prostate massage and tickled his sac a wee bit. Well, more than a wee bit. This was the most intense experience of this sort that he could have in his current state.

"You guys have pretty good stamina," said Vixen right when it was her turn to be the passive party. She had insisted on going last.

More like trip-reset ability. "I guess so," I said. Now, was there a way to make this the end of it? Or did I even want this to be the end?!

Actually, I wanted Keith. Oh, to run my hands over that awesome body with sandalwood oil all over him...or her, if Keith decided to take on the feminine gender for the occasion. It happened once in a while.

Nahhhhh! Now I wanted him to stay as he was. The original Keith! Male persuasion. Beautiful, smooth, powerful, defined, and flawless! Silky snowy hair, that gorgeous face that matched my own, and a well proportioned wiry build that was ripped to the hilt. And when I was a youngster, I found the concept of getting intimate with another male comical. Ye gods, what I didn't know. I'm just grateful I had no social programming against the concept. The few jokes that I'd heard here and there were not enough to deter me from being open to getting intimate with the one I loved more than anyone, regardless of what gender he was, or in reality what gender 'it' appeared to have.

This time, Keith was under Vixen, with Vixen facing up, and I'd do most of the work. Keith acting as base, the 'bottom of the pyramid', whatever, did not move much. That would come later if and when they turned on their sides. The timing of that would be Vixen's decision if it happened. The passive party ruled. She or he would get what she or he wanted...well; excepting a half hour of nose pets if the passive party was Stefan.

I ended up going against the usual protocol, and dividing my concentration between Keith and Vixen, as opposed to solely concentrating on Vixen. I teased both relentlessly, giving them my best, only to withdraw my attentions when we were at the borderline. Vixen, still not knowing I felt exactly what they were feeling and vice versa, was about going nuts wondering how I kept her on edge like I did, and I got a few innovative insults hurled at me for what I was doing to her, despite the fact it was really a shared experience which was creating as much of a enticing, absolutely scrumptious 'torment' of longing within myself and Keith as much as her.

Vixen finally demanded that Keith roll himself and her self on their sides, and for me to get on with it, or she’d kill us both. Both Keith and I laughed over that idle threat, but I really wondered if I could do anything to intensify the experience any further for...OK, mostly Keith. If Vixen was to come along for the ride, fine, but it was Keith’s pleasure I was mostly interested in. Suddenly a thought occurred to me, and it wasn't mine.

'What if you increased diametre?'

I snorted. I started to laugh so hard that I actually did a fade out, got it out of my system, and time-tripped back to before Keith sent that thought to me, and before Vixen got too confused over my non sequitur behaviour.

Ye gods!

OK, sure!

After going over her entire being with delicate strokes, I took Vixen to the edge via oral and manual means combined, as Keith slowly thrust into her rear with unheard of tenderness. Oh man, it took so much out of me to feel what those two were going through and continue with what I was doing. I should have withdrawn my mind from the experience, but it just felt too good to let go of. I finally entered Vixen, and I did a quarter inch diametre increase after I was in all the way.

Oh, yeah! All of us felt it. It was quite sufficient. Vixen screamed, "OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEVER FELT ANYTHING LIKE THAT BEFORRRRRRRRRRRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! MOOOOOOOOOOOVE!"

OK. I didn't move very fast. I didn't have to. It was also a good idea to be careful. Keith matched his speed to me. Keith and I tried both thrusting in opposite directions, and the same. Both felt good, but opposite were a little intenser, so we ended up settling on that. Keith took us over again, mentally, and froze the apex sensations in us one more time. That was an ability I still didn't have on my own.

Man, it was unbearable, but on the other hand...

I fell flat on my back after this session was over, first making sure I was in my more usual proportions upon the disconnect, Vixen ended up on her front, and Keith lay on his side with his head propped up in his hand, looking us over. Waiting. Waiting for Vixen to say, "Vergil, can you take me doggie style? Wild and fast, facing the mirror on the left?"

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH! Macha! Del! You ain't got nuthin' on Lucy Verona! Trip-reset.

Yes, I watched what I was doing once in a while in that mirror. The perspective issue was kind of weird to me. This was not my favourite thing to do in the bedroom scene, especially as the aggressor, being so unrefined, and more violent than I preferred, but it was OK every now and then. Keith and I sometimes made eye contact in our reflection, and we both struggled not to laugh. I wouldn’t have found myself so interesting if I’d had my hair the regular colour, and my face not in the stripes, but I almost didn’t see that reflection as myself. Oh, what a gorgeous creature I was. Even I noticed that more with this façade. And now I was being such an animal. Keith and I were one in mind as all this was going on, and our umpteenth culminations were shared one more time. This was finally it for the three of us.



*****



Vixen passed out after the wild rut. I’d angled myself to rub her in all the right places, and moved with a speed not many mortals could maintain for very long from beginning to end, not stopping for the several culminations she experienced during the session in her own right. My own desires were fed off of hers, and we ended up wanting the exact same experience. Several times I’d pulled her from the all fours position, holding her to myself, with my arms crossed in front of her, and my hands on her breasts as I continued the thrusts. I’d scrape my teeth on her neck or shoulder here and there. She loved that.



*****



After it was over, Keith and I dressed. I got into my usual black tunic, and he wore flared jeans, work boots, and a flannel shirt. I was back to my regular hair colour, and we were both un-striped. We materialised two cups of tea over Vixen's kitchen table. The newspaper that covered her homicide was on that table, along with my book series, including The Gate Keepers' Archives. "I can't believe we did that with a newcomer. And there's one thing we haven't done with Stef, I said.

“Uh, that you haven’t done with Stef,” said Keith.

"I’m not going to comment, but that was just too much," I said, before I had a sip of the creamed Darjeeling I had in my cup. “It was fun, but I can’t even remember how many times we screwed.”

Keith shrugged. "I had to deal with that kind of duration with Macha in the old days. I also have to admit I really wanted you and Vixen at the same time. This was a once in an existence opportunity."

"Considering what Lucy is, I don't even know if I would have consented to this if my own free will had been left fully in tact, but of course my being here is your fault, you occasionally manipulative not so little bastard?!"

"Guilty as charged."

"Can I ask why you chose Vixen? What makes her so special, besides her looks which really are irrelevant?”

Keith looked down into his own teacup, and smiled. "Let's just say it's not who she is. It's who she was in the first century."

I scowled. First century. "The Roman's were causing a lot of problems then."

"We've met her as she was then. She's been to your riding exhibits, and she did impress you. She had to come back though, from another perspective. Just wait until she's reconsolidated."

"Are you going to let me know who she was before then, or shall I look her up?"

"I'll tell you. She was one of the bravest women in Earth's history. A Celtic warrior queen."

I nodded, and closed my eyes. "Boadica?"

Keith...or Thanatos rather, nodded. "Yes. So you forgive me for my persuasions of you?"

I raised my cup to him. "I always do. You never do anything without a reason, and I think I should know better than to counter you by now. After all, in all of eternity, have you ever fucked up?"

Thanatos smiled. "Of course. I’ve fucked up, fucked down, fucked left, fucked right, but seriously! I still do things I shouldn't on occasion. In fact, what we just did was quite personal and it was selfish of me to drag you into this phantasy of mine."

"I did enjoy myself, despite the fact I would have had misgivings if you didn’t have your way with my mind. Lucy sure had fun."

"I do apologise for bending your will, even though I'd do it again if I have to, but thanks for forgiving me. I admit I was wrong in messing with you like that but it’s just that this was one of those things. I took a calculated risk."

"You know, we are going to have to go to the Higher Planes soon, or I am going to get very depressed," I said. "Ending what we just did without proper closure just doesn't do it for me."

Thanatos had a couple sips of tea, and put his cup down. He stood up, and came over to me. He extended his hand, and I got up. He embraced me. "Donn, I love you more than myself. I will go higher with you. Before Vixen arises. Then after she reads your series, I'll take all three of us as high as she can handle. Low Astral, for now! Until she becomes fully reconsolidated, anyway."

I hugged him back. "You know, deep down inside, standing here like this means more to me than what just happened.

He stroked my hair with one hand, whilst still holding onto me with his other arm. "I know what you mean, but look at it like this. How many will you share yourself with like that? I know I've been intimate with a number of my cases, but the motive was not like what I just did with you. I didn't even take on Vixen for the same reason I wanted you."

"Your attention did seem to be more focused on me."

"I had a hard time keeping my eyes off of you. This look fascinates me to no end. If I'd been mortal, I would have disappointed Lucy terribly."

"You looked damn good in the stripes yourself, lover. Gods, and the way you move! The way you flow! I don't know if I'll ever stop reviewing the show you just finished putting on."

He embraced me completely again, and held me close. "Donn, my dearest Donn."

I pressed against him, and closed my eyes. "I know this is gonna sound weird, but despite all we just did, I want you. Just you. You know what would make me very happy right now?"

He kissed me on the forehead. "I can't do it. I can't take you or anybody else no holds barred for my sake. You know that."

"Your favourite position is the Tantric Lotus. Connected, and just holding each other."

"Aye. You have polarity for that, ideally. Then again, I prefer you how you were born."

I chuckled. "Damn paradoxes. I've got the same issues with you."

"You're crashing from what we all just did."

"Silly of me, huh?"

"You've changed so much from when we first met in this lifetime of mine," said Thanatos.

"We first met in you last lifetime, not this one. You were killed before you got fully reconsolidated. This is your third incarnation. Gods, I'm glad I didn't find out about what happened until after the facts."

"I wouldn't have put you through that for anything," said Thanatos.

I ran my hands over his sexy rear. "Thanatos! You can do anything with yourself, huh!"

He scowled. "Donn, have you gone insane?"

"Well, you can, can't you? I just have to have you again. Your sake all the way! I just can’t...oh, there’s no way to show you how much I love you in this realm, but I wanna try."

He put his hands on my cheeks, and made me look at him. "You want me to rearrange a part of myself to function a little more like a mortal, but for the flow to never end as you’re playing Hoover vacuum."

"You've already frozen us long term in orgiastic rapture. What's one more little minor detail?"

He laughed. "Donn Ui’Mider, I think you have become a total nutter. Do you have any idea what you're asking?"

"Probably not. Do you?"

"I've never considered it. I don't think so."

I smiled. "But now that I've mentioned it, aren't you curious, and aren't you going to go bonkers until that curiosity is satisfied?"

He backed away from me and went back to his chair, laughing. "Dude! As all the women in the household have told you over and over again, I'd hate you if I didn't love you so much. And after you've had your fill of that experience, pun intended, you want me to ravish you like how you just fucked Vixen before taking you to the Higher Planes."

It would make me totally ecstatic. And can you wear the stripes?"

"Can I ask a compromise?"

"Wear the hair black again, me also restripe myself via temporary tattoo, and be a chick when you fuck me to kingdom come to finish us off."

"Yes," said Thanatos.

"Sure."

"Let's go to Tech Duinn. Macha's old room."

“Mirrors on the ceiling," I said.

"But no pink Champagne on ice. I don't particularly like the concept."

“I’m wearing socks, in case we step on that cold floor.”

“Same.”

I laughed. "Then we'll time trip back her to right when Lucy wakes up."

"Yes."



*****



Thanatos was resting against the pillows, which were against the headboard, as I was going over him with sandalwood oil. He was watching me. "Damn, I can’t stop looking at you!"

I chuckled. "And considering I look just like you..."

"Oh, the irony. Aspects of this are as funny as Hell."

"Indeed. Now let me concentrate on driving you crazier than you've ever been driven."

"That's what Macha and Deliah are for. I don't think you can outdo those two."

"Maybe not in the same way."

“We’ll see.”

I ran the tips of my index fingers across his nipples with the lightest touch I could, licked them, sucked on them a bit, and worked my way down him. I traced those pectorals, that washboard stomach, traced my fingers over his shaft, then down his inner thighs before going down on him. Tongue over frenulum, and press. Swirl, lap, vacuum, hold, stroke, slurp, detour to sac, lap, slurp, press on perineum and rub that firm but gentle, stroke thighs, swirl, lap, vacuum... If time were real, a half hour later my 'straw' is finally picking something up.

Our perspective of what was happening was as different as night and day. Yes, what he was feeling was very pleasurable, but he actually could have stopped me, walked away, and not thought nothing of it. I, on the other hand, really wanted to...needed to draw this encounter to its conclusion. And no, I could not have finished the job myself. This was different. There was way more to this than just the sensualism of sex.

Throb...throb...throb.. We're in a mind share. I can feel it. I can't stand it. I have to disconnect my empathy switch, and I continue. Being I have to concentrate on what I'm doing, I can't see my love is rigid, wearing a faint smile, with his eyes closed, forcing himself to do something about as unnatural as he can, whilst also being serviced in the best way possible by one individual.

More. Faster. My symbolic spring in the desert! What are you feeling, now that I can't feel it anymore? I love you so much, but there's no way to demonstrate it here. This is a bad analogy, but I feel like a glass wall is between us, because as I've said before a billion times, THIS JUST ISN'T ENOUGH, DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How long has it been? I'm out of time. All I know is 'now'. So sweet, so warm, but never sufficient enough to quench my desire to show you what I really feel for you. We could be frozen like this for eternity, and it would still fall short. I wish I could look at you now, but I can't. You! The most beautiful thing that ever was, in every aspect.

Suddenly I wasn't the same anymore. My shape had been shifted, but I didn't do it. I wasn't responsible. I ran my hand across my chest, cupped and squeezed my right breast, which had been quite a bit smaller a few seconds ago, and I was inundated with a most urgent hunger.

I felt his hand on my head. I let go of him. It happened so fast; I almost didn't know what hit me. It’s like a phantasy I had that I hadn’t even known about was just brought to life.

I was propped on all fours, and felt that hunger 'fed' with a silky rod I'd not felt before in quite this fashion. Satin on steel! 'What if you increased diametre?' He had. A little. It was scrumptious. He was also still ejaculating. That had not stopped. With each thrust, there was more. The sound effects of that were a strange sort of turn-on for me! For us, for I was also not allowed to keep our minds separated any longer. He was far more powerful than I in every way possible, and he forced me to feel what he was going through again.

He was moving fast, but he managed to maintain his metaphysical grace. Real fast, but it wasn't going to end soon. His mind controlled his body, and not the other way around. A huge mess was being generated under us, all over me, and soon all over both of us, but neither one of us cared. Actually, it was nice, smooth, warm, and sensuous. It would be cleaned up by de-manifestation before we left. Neither of us would have wanted anything in any other way. It felt so different, but so enrapturing. The slipperiness with the wider circumference of that shaft with that sensation of his never ending fountain cutting loose against my insides was beyond fulfilling. I wasn’t bothered in the least by the ‘waterfall’ dripping down me. I was getting a bizarre pleasure out of it, though I wondered if I should consider that perverse? It was so different. I was in a forced surrender, and I was loving every nanosecond of it...well, if nanoseconds were real .

What did it feel like? Indescribable, in the best way possible! Intenser than intense. I wouldn't have been able to tolerate it alone. It was beyond the beyond. If this had been done to anyone on Earth, they would not survive. They would have a system shutdown from sensory overload. The circuit boards in their brains would explode, or something. The never-ending culmination!

Just like I’d done to Lucy, he put his right arm under me, picked me up, and pressed me against him self. He cupped both breasts, and scraped his left fang down my neck, and across my shoulder. He drew just a smidgeon of blood, but I felt no pain. That had never happened before, and I doubted it was an accident. Thanatos didn’t have accidents, but it was only a small scratch, so hey. He thrust hard, all the way, and I went over. He pulled out of me, and suddenly I found myself in male again, still climaxing. He easily entered me again, though very gently this time, and much more slowly. I found I was also adding to the mess beneath us, and it wouldn’t stop.

I couldn’t have done this to myself. I had no clue on how to rearrange the mechanics of my biology to keep the ejaculatory stream going. I also couldn’t take it for much longer. I couldn’t handle the duration of the intensity I was feeling. I was also having a problem with the fact that I knew I’d have to be driven to a further apex than I’d ever experienced before to get sated.

"OH GODS ABOVE AND BELOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! STOP IT!!!!!!!!!! I'M GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!!!!!"

Thanatos kissed my neck, and all the scratches he gave me with his fang healed. "You asked for it, love."

So I did. Not in words, but in a plain desire that he picked up.

We fell sideways into the puddle underneath us. Oh, wow! I got the delectable, liquid velvet rubbed into me, as Thanatos gave me an all-over light massage, not that I didn’t, fight back. We laughed over our silliness, as we made an even huger mess of each other and ourselves. After a while, he thrust into me slowly, while expertly massaging my shaft. I ended up...um...how do I describe this? I guess it ended up like an orgasm on top of an orgasm, and he still didn’t let me go right away. I was subjected to a few more minutes of the most delightful torture in existence. No, I was not quiet. I couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. I was sent completely out of my mind. There was nothing left of me but sensation. In the middle of my scream, Thanatos pulled us Astral, and I was relegated to go through everything I’d just experienced on the Etheric again, from the Astral perspective. Then the Causal, then the Mental, and he actually dragged me all seven levels up to the way HOME. HOME to level of SOURCE! Ye gods!

Yes, this was IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was nothing in existence anywhere that could have surpassed this experience.

So much for that damn void I’d felt in being able to show my appreciation for the one who gave me everything, and it was returned tenfold…at least!



*****



Both Thanatos and I decided on jeans, flannel shirts, and work boots, after ‘IT’ was over. Our stripes were gone, and my hair was red-blond. Thanatos was holding a cup of tea, I was holding a newspaper, and we were sitting on opposite sides of the bed next to Vixen. Thanatos was closer to Vixen...er...Lucy. "Lucy! It's time for you to wake up." He waved the tea under her nose.

She stretched. "Keeeeeith! You're still herrrrrrre."

"We both are," said Keith.

We sat up. "What happened to your stripes?"

"Have your tea first, and Vergil has a newspaper article for you to read. Then we'll tell you, and we also have a book for you to read."

She looked at me. "Your hair! My God, you look like an angel."

I actually lost my balance and fell off the bed over that. No, I didn't get hurt, being I managed to catch myself halfway, but I did end up laughing a bit. So did Thanatos. "Easy there, Donn," he said.

Vixen scowled, and took the tea. "What's wrong?" And why did Keith call me Dun?

"After what we did last night, how can you call me an angel?" I asked through my subsiding chuckles.

"Well you sure make out like an angel. Both of you! I never had it so good. You were serious about never again, huh?"

"Angels are neuter. They don’t make out, and it’s highly unlikely you will have us again like last night,” I said.

“Donn Ui’Midir, I NEVER take a mortal for more than one session. Not even this one!”

Vixen scowled. "Huh? Dun O'Meer? Mortal?"

"D-o-n-n U-i'M-i-d-i-r. That's my real name. After you put your tea down, Keith will tell you his real name, and then you can read about yourself in the paper. This is what we generally look like. The hair, my face hair design and Keith’s stripes were a temporary façade."

"I'm in the paper?"

"Yes, Lucy. Please put the tea down, or you will spill it. I guarantee you that," said Thanatos.

"OK." She did.

Thanatos caressed her hair. “Lucy Verona, you do know my name. It's Thanatos, and I am THE Thanatos. I have an Irish accent because I've been remade as I am in Ireland, and Donn, or Vergil Xanon as he goes, wrote a book about it. He's my Irish counterpart. Yes, I did have a tattoo of the stripes, but I’m a shape shifter who can modify itself in any way, and I made those stripes go away. Now Donn! About that paper article."

I handed it to her. She read it. "Barry killed me?" she asked with a scowl.

"He sure did. You know, you weren't exactly the nicest, most considerate person in this incarnation," I said. "And you've thought about it, too. You rationalised to yourself, 'Why should I be? It's my life and that's theirs, so it's not my problem. I live for me.' Complete self-service is not a good way to live. We've even shown you the alternative. In fact, the feeling is still with you. That feeling of peace, bliss, and love?"

"You did say you gave that to me. How?"

"Telepathy, Lucy. I'd rather call you by your real name than your made up bad-ass pseudonym," I said.

"So you're both Death gods?"

"I wouldn't deify us," said Thanatos. "We call ourselves Gate Keepers, or rather we did in the…um. . .past. We’re retired, and I just took you on because of an old internal yearning. You're going to be just like us one day. The only difference between us now is that you don't know as much as we do. We'll teach you some of what we know to make your existence here easier. We're also going to help you reconsolidate yourself, because you really are one great lady in the general scheme of things. Or rather you were one, where gender still is truly relevant."

"Huh?"

Thanatos said, "You wear the façade of having a gender, but you really don't have one. You're a shape shifter now, and you can be anything. I'll teach you how to do that shortly."

"I don't remember getting shot. I don't even remember seeing Barry at the bar."

"Lucy. I took over your mind and brought it here to this parallel illusion of what was your life. What was shot was just your walking carcass running on empty. I did this because I found you in the past, and you never had anyone to help you transfer to this side of The Veil in your last life. I also found that a part of you is one who I have great admiration for. Lucy Verona is a reincarnation of the Celtic queen known as Boadica. When I was younger, I daydreamed about having her as a lover, since that was my kind of woman. After all, that lovely Irish war goddess, Macha The Red was the one who’s responsible for me being like this, and Boadica reminded me of a mortal version of Macha. I'll help you out in everything after you read Donn's book, OK?"

With a stunned expression, Lucy nodded. "Boadica! I know her. She fought against the Romans. I was her, and now I'm Italian?"

Thanatos smiled. "You still are her. A part of you, anyway! It works that way, some times. You chose to have Italian ancestry in your last life to make peace with some of your hatreds and biases. Granted you did incur a few other setbacks and personality issues in this life, but I think we can make it so you don't have to go through another incarnation. Help you see the light, so to speak." He lay back on the bed, with his hands under his head.

"I thank you. I also thank you for making me feel so good, and is it OK to thank the both of you for the best fuck of my life?"

I chuckled. "You weren't alive when it happened, luv."

"Actually, I personally ought to thank you, Lucy. After all, though it was with your consent, I did basically use you," said Thanatos. "I mean, I got to sleep with a variation of one of my heroes of the past, and I did want some help to drive Donn to new heights, and you did a damn good job helping me do that. Live ones are better for us, considering vibrators are better for the gender you used to be, you know?"

She looked at me. "Can I throw something at him?"

"What we say, is 'Where is that rolled up newspaper when you need it, but..." I materialised my book set for her, and handed her the first volume. "Start reading about us, and get in the groove. If you like, we might even keep you for eternity."

"But you'll never fuck me again?!"

I chuckled. "Dudette! After what I've just been put through, I'm not sure I want to fuck Thanatos again!"

She looked at Thanatos, and then back to me. "Dude! There's no accounting for insanity."

"You have no idea!" I said.

"And maybe it better stay that way," said Thanatos with a lopsided smile.



*****



Thanatos and I were walking through the holographic garden when Stefan found us. "Hey, you two! Been a while. Now, didn't you guys imply som..."

Both Thanatos and I crossed our index fingers in the form of a cross. Being one in mind, we both concurrently said, "Back! Back I say! Get ye back to your tomb!"

Stefan wrinkled his nose. "Huh?"

"Don't ask!" We were still in unison.

"OK," said Stefan. "Then I guess we enjoy the garden. Wanna talk about it?"

"NO!"

Thanatos then extended his arms to Stefan. “Stef, get your nose hairs over here.”

Stefan stepped into Thanatos’ embrace, and I stepped behind Stef to hug him as well. “In a little bit, we’ll take care of you,” I said. “After we recover ourselves from what we did.”

Thanatos kissed him on the forehead. “And we’ll do it right, this time. All the way, right to the point of no return! And hopefully you'll still respect us in the morning.”

Of course, he would.



















































































THE DAY AFTER



I chose a bad title for this chapter. There is no time, as you mortals know it in my realm. There are no days or nights. There is light, there is dark, but I can be anywhere at any 'time', past, present, future. I can even change sequence of events, if I don't like them, or if I have to protect myself, though I only do that for myself. I don’t mess with anyone else’s history.

Speaking of sequence of events, my dear Thanatos showed me perhaps the best time of my existence as far as sheer sensuality went, and we repeated the ultimate hedonistic interlude with Stefan, not that pure hedonism was the only goal, but hey! So what are the consequences?

Uh...art!

Thanatos and I were looking at the paintings. There must have been around fifty of the damn things. Oh, they were beautiful, but ye gods! "Stefan, if these ever go on public display, I am going to take your precious nose away from you and WEAR IT AROUND MY NECK ON A SILVER CHAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I was in black hair, and both Thanatos and I had our faces striped, and Omega symbols on our foreheads in every last one of them. I don't think I'll go too in depth with them.

Thanatos looked at me. "It might weigh you down too much. Can I have half of it?"

Looking at a rather graphic painting with both Thanatos and I exploited to the hilt, I shrugged. "Sure." I looked at Stefan. "No one else will ever know about this, right?"

"I could destroy them."

"DON'T YOU DARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I exclaimed.

"No, these are beautiful. As personal as hell, but you actually managed to portray us is pretty good taste," said Thanatos. "Those expressions. Paradoxical. Bliss, rapture and love, all at once." He pointed at one where he was over me when I was on my back, we were nose to nose, both smiling at each other, I had my eyes closed, and his neon glare focused on my closed lids. Granted we also looked like we had a bucket of...oh, never mind. "Strangely, I find this one compelling."

"Your finest moments in splooge wrestling," said Stefan.

Thanatos reached forward, and took hold of Stefan's nose. He looked at me "OK. I got it. What do I do with it? Gild it in silver now, or what?"

I laughed. "Ye gods, let the damn thing go. Otherwise, we might not have any more controversial paintings done of us."

Thanatos let go of Stefan's nose, and ruffled his hair. "That’s the idea, Donn. You are such a little shite sometimes, Stefan."

Stefan rubbed his own nose, not that Thanatos had grabbed it very hard. "Thank you, but now my nose hates you.”

"Don't mention it," said Thanatos.

"So are you going to apologise to the nose?" asked Stefan.

Thanatos stroked it. "Sorry for coming down on you for what your uppity perch did, baby. I'll try to direct my frustration more appropriately next time."

"It accepts," said Stefan.

Thanatos sighed. "If you say so." He looked at me. "Amazing, but not one schlong shot in all these portraits."

"Don't give him any ideas," I said.

"I could do another one," said Stefan.

Thanatos pointed at him. "Don't push your luck, BUSTER!"

"Or?"

Thanatos smiled, baring his fangs. "You've experienced what I'm capable of. I'll go into the furthest depths of your mind, and find your worst nightmare. How's about I chain you to a wall, whilst you can watch as I stroke Donn's nose with peacock feathers for hours on end, while you get none?"

Stefan's worst nightmare?! That sounded like one of my worst nightmares, and I didn't even have the displeasure of thinking it up! Still, I played along. "Ye gods, that sound soooooo HOT! Should I materialise a bed and present you my nose right now?"

Both Thanatos and Stefan laughed. Thanatos looked at me. "Yeah, right!" He turned to Stefan. "I really do like these, but I will admit I don't want anyone else to see them. I’m too selfish with myself and you two to have anyone get any ideas that I may want to play with them; if you get my drift. Keep your minds guarded on what we just did."

"Understood. I sort of had that idea. That's why the pictures are here. Different galaxy, different world, different building, different dungeon," said Stefan. It was a Low Etheric world, like Tech Duinn, only a planet, and not just an island.

"Dude, it's just a basement," I said.

"That can be changed," said Stefan. "Torture can obviously also be redefined."

Thanatos laughed. "So it can."

"Though I hope you forget about chaining me to the wall whilst servicing Donn's honker," said Stefan.

"I hope he was kidding," I said. "I don't think I ever did anything bad enough to warrant that kind of treatment from him."

Thanatos reached over, and ruffled my hair. "Of course not. What a waste of time, if you know what I mean."

"Yeah! My nose is so much more worth the effort," said Stefan.

Thanatos shook his head, as he pointed to Stefan with his thumb. "This guy is impossible, not that I'd trade him, her, it, whatever in."

"Thanks. How's Lucy?" asked Stefan.

"I left her with Macha and Kevalyn. She wants to hold off being reconsolidated for a while. She's just so into what she is, or used to be. Macha will take care of Lucy when she's ready, which shouldn't be too much longer. Lucy's's really in with those two ladies, and the feeling’s mutual."

"Hm," I said. I looked at one tamer painting where Thanatos and I were dressed, and I was in the process of making him an offer that he couldn't refuse, judging from his closed eyes, bared, teeth, and subtle smile. I had my eyes narrowed in a look of determination, and I looked like I was giving a playful snarl. I still wasn't used to myself in the black hair and sculpted beard. "You know, Than? I think I look as sexy as you in this mode."

Thanatos chuckled. "You look damn good both ways. A little more likely to be accessible in the black hair, but hey."

"After we get our fill of these pictures, shall we hit the couch on the first floor for some tea?" asked Stefan.

"And do a mindshare?" I asked.

"All the way," said Thanatos.



*****



Stefan had materialised some white tea, and he let me have a sip. "This tastes like flower petals. I've never had this before."

Thanatos sniffed the air. "Smells good."

Stefan handed the cup to him. "Here."

He sampled it. "Mmmmmmm. One more for the agenda." He gave the cup back, and materialised his own of the same.

So did I. "You really went nuts with the acrylics, babe," I said to Stefan. "Did you paint those non-stop?"

"Aye. I obviously stepped out of time, and I just couldn't stop. When I was working on one, I'd get hit with a couple of other ideas, and I just had to get them down. It was like you have an endless stomach, and two and eighty different flavour fruit mousse pies in front of you with whipped cream, and hazelnuts. I’m just glad I can paint fast now."

Thanatos raised his left eyebrow. "I hate it when Stefan does an analogy comparing us to food."

I raised my teacup. "I wouldn't worry about it. Stef still hasn't eaten anyone. Not like off a plate, anyway."

Stefan scowled. "I am vegetarian, and last I checked, neither one of you came close to being veggies."

"Stef, you are something else. After this tea shall we blend our minds completely, or do we go through another five or six cups?"

Thanatos put his nose over his cup. "I really like this. I vote for more tea, though I don't know about five or six cups. Maybe two or three."

"Fine with me."

When we got around to the mindshare, Thanatos and I found Stefan couldn't wait to get back to his painting. The next thing that would go up would be Thanatos in the tiger stripes he wore when he hit the ice rink for a 'client' named Kale Feldt. He'd be on Gilgamesh, with me in front of him, in a pose reminiscent of a Gothic romance cover, sans polarity between the genders. I even had my shirt ripped, and yes, I had black hair and beard cut in face stripes. Right now, Stefan's desire to paint was worse than a cigarette addiction for him. It was a burning yearning that couldn't be quenched with an ocean. And then there was a wish to bring some of the painted phantasies to life.





















































ART DOESN’T ALWAYS LEAVE A FOOTPRINT



Thanatos was on Gilgamesh in the completed painting. Not only was Thanatos in tiger stripes, so was the stallion. Than was dressed in boots, a very tattered loincloth that barely covered the basics, a baldric harness with sheathed claymore, torc, and gauntlet. I was draped over the horse in front of Thanatos, apparently unconscious. Was I Than's victim, or a rescue? My sword harness was torn, and the sheath was empty. A broken claymore lay at Gilgamesh's feet. I had a cut on my right forearm, and my loincloth was half ripped off as well. Both Thanatos and I had watched Stef paint the thing from beginning to end. After he was done, he said, "You two are so incredibly beautiful, it's like I almost can't stand it, now. I don't know what's come over me, but I'm as hung up on your looks as if I'd never seen you before."

I looked at Thanatos. "Maybe I shouldn't have switched hair colour." Actually, I was an un-striped redhead right now.

"I'm getting it as much as you, my dear." He waved his hand over the walls. "I must also say I'm loving every minute of it."

I put my arm around Thanatos, and pressed him into myself. I closed my eyes, and smiled. "To tell you the truth, so do I...as long as it only stays with the three of us."

"If I wore a tail, nosewhiskers, two foot long nose hair braids, I might be as cute as you two. Maybe a bigger nose, too," said Stefan

Thanatos and I looked at each other. "Aren't you glad he's kidding?" asked Thanatos.

"SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Don't let him hear you say that. Stefan is the worst regarding reverse psychology. We might actually end up with him like that if you keep talking like that."

Thanatos winked at me, and tilted his head. "The Hell with everything. I just thought of something. I notice a strange touch of ambivalence in you. Do you want me?"

"Only if it ends right," I said.

He closed his eyes, and nodded. “Heads up, Stefan.”

Suddenly the three of us weren't in the studio-exhibition room of the house that Stefan had materialised in his remote world far away that no one but us knew about.

We were in a room. The walls and floor were black onyx, and the ceiling was painted black. There were huge fireplaces in all four walls, and they were raging. A canopy bed was in the middle of the room, and there were no blankets. Only a black satin bottom sheet, and pillows! Stefan was standing beside that bed, after we landed.

Thanatos was beside me, but he wasn't in human form. He was a white tiger, and he was actually striped for the first time in his existence. He roared.

Stefan, standing at the edge of the bed, was quite stunned. Thanatos pounced, and in a single leap, knocked Stefan on his back after Stef let out a scream of sheer surprise, though Thanatos was in human form again when Stefan opened his eyes.

Thanatos didn't have a stylised stripe job for once. He had transferred the stripes he'd had as a tiger to himself, and even his hair was striped this time. He was skyclad. He embraced Stefan, and rolled himself over so Stefan was on top. He smiled, and snarled at Stefan with a smile.

Stefan slowly pulled back from Thanatos, and sat up. He chuckled. "Ye gods, you are so damn beautiful. I can't wait to paint you like this, but I think I want you so bad that I'm going to spontaneously combust if I don't...Thanatos, I am overwhelmed!"

Thanatos looked at me, and extended his hand as he sat up. I sat beside him, and stroked his hair. "Thank you for everything," I said.

He kissed me on the nose. "And thank you, back." He then ruffled Stefan's hair. "You too, my fellow occasionally fanged one."

Stefan gave us a playful snarl. He was wearing his part time fangs at present. "Now what?"

Thanatos looked at him. "You mean, can I think of anything new that we haven't done?"

"Aye," said Stefan.

"No," said Thanatos. "I’d have to scour the Akashic Files. I've repeated with you both everything I've ever done with Macha a long time ago, and a little more, the last time."

I dematerialised my clothing, and embraced Thanatos. "I want to paint you too, I want to watch you, I want to caress every nanometre of you, I want to screw you silly, and I want to get screwed silly. Do I divide myself up into five?"

He rubbed his head against my shoulder. "There was a time you would have cringed to hear yourself talking like this."

I chuckled. "I know. And I didn't even want to do this for the longest period. What happened?" I asked as I moved to his side.

Thanatos embraced us both. He looked straight ahead, then closed his eyes. "The light bulb always burns brightest before it burns out, aye?"

"There's different ways to interpret that," said Stefan.

Thanatos rubbed his right index finger down Stef's nose. "There is. I mean this in a good way, by the way. Now, one of you wants Thanatos, the other wants Thanica."

I looked at Stefan, and smiled. "Damn fruits."

Stefan chuckled. "Thanica first, Thanatos second. You can go first."

"Do I have any say in this?" asked Thanatos.

"Hell no," I said.

Thanatos switched gender, and lay on 'her' back, putting her hands behind her back. The tiger stripes remained. "Do with me what you will," said...uh...I'll call ‘it’, I mean …’her’ Thanica for now.

I smiled, and traced her biceps, and ran my hand delicately over her left breast. Stefan traced the rest of her, just enjoying her exquisite beauty. "I just can't do enough for you in this state," I said.

She slowly rolled on her side, and ran her finger down my cheek. "No harm in trying. Let's just get into the sensuality for now, and we'll worry about the real love later."

I closed my eyes, and nodded. "Stef, let's give this...um...lady all we've got."

"I was planning on it."



*****



I lay next to Thanica, spooning her. Stefan was running his hand down her side. Stefan said, "I almost can't wait to get started on the next painting."

Thanica closed her eyes. "Me as a warrior slut about to ravish a conquered Donn. Donn, do you have anything to say about that one?"

I chuckled. "Works for me." I kissed her shoulder. "Now how's about you a’changing back to the facade of your more general gender?" I was thoroughly ‘fucked out’, and really wanted to make out in other ways.

"Another round of something slightly different, huh?" asked Thanica.

"Please," said Stefan. "Then I might even wait to start on that next painting.

In a split second, we had our 'Thanatos' back.

A vial of sandalwood oil appeared in Stefan's hand. "Do we mind?"

Thanatos rolled on his stomach. "Not at all."

Stefan poured the whole vial on him, and started rubbing it in as seductively as possible. "It's amazing how the telepathy/empathy mind shares you force on us drive us to absolute insanity, but not a word out of you. Not a squeak, or the slightest groan."

Thanatos closed his eyes, and smiled. "You'll get there eventually, though I obviously appreciate what you two do for me."

I stroked his hair. "Obviously. But still. After all you've done, it's so little."

"Let's talk about this in the atrium of this lovely house after you two are sated with me. We'll be able to enjoy the wind chimes going off, and the creaking of the font gate over some tea and hors d'oeuvres."

"You actually want food for no justifuable reason?" I asked.

"Hey! If we're going basic, we might as well go all the way. Multi-seeded garlic and onion rye crackers with Meunster cheese, avacado, Stefan-style devilled egg yolk with the capers, minced red bellpeppers, celery, onion, cornichons, Kalamata olives and mushroom, topped with Kalamata olive half. I'm in the mood for creamed Darjeeling with that."

"That does sound good," said Stefan. Stef was slowly working his way down Thanatos, and was at his lower back.

I pressed myself beside Thanatos, cupped his right butt cheek, and draped my right leg over his legs. Trip-reset. I kissed his shoulder, and my shaft expressed an interest in wanting something done.

Stefan flattened himself halfway on Thanatos, and went over to me to lick my shaft.

I exhaled sharply.

Thanatos slowly extricated himself from us, and rolled over on his side. Stefan took my shaft in his mouth, and I felt his tongue circle it to what degree it could. His lips went up and down it a few times, hold, vacuum, slurp, swirl, everything. No pattern to his technique. I fell on my back, and just surrendered to whatever. Thanatos stroked my hair. "Relaaaaaaaaaax," he said.

I was relaxed. In fact, I'm not sure I could have gotten more relaxed.

I was rolled onto my side, and Thanatos pressed me against himself. I had my eyes closed, and Hell yeah; I was wearing a smile!

Stefan let go of me, and said, "Ye gods! I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. You two are so beautiful it still almost painful looking at you!"

I sighed. "You're no less so."

Stefan nosed my shaft. "I beg to differ, but I'm in no mood for a debate right now." He took my shaft in his mouth again.

Thanatos tickled my sac most delectably, let go of me, and I got the oral stimulation in stereo for a while. Thanatos then pulled back, and I felt his fangs scrape my arm, and then my shoulder. I felt his shaft rest on my hip. I felt it emit a river, and so did I. Stefan caught all of mine, and I felt Thanatos' hand go over what had just been spewed all over me. That felt pretty good. Thanatos then played with my sphincter, and slowly entered me as I was 'reset' via Thanatos' will, and my desires blew the thermometer, so to speak.

I couldn't feel like I did in my own right. Again, Thanatos purged himself non-stop, and I was in the same state. Stefan started going up and down my shaft in synchronisation with Than's thrusts. Stef was also switching off between holding my sac, and giving me a prostate massage.

Suddenly I saw what was happening with us from an outside perspective. I saw in my mind what was being done to me as if I was sitting in a chair beside this temporary bed. The White Tiger thrusting into me with a strange look of determination combined with rapture. My beautiful Stefan; just so intent on making me feel as good as he could! And me! Black hair, beard in the stripe design, upper lip drawn back, trying to stifle all the screams and groans these unbearably exquisite sensations where trying to drive me to.

I was just getting turned on, more and more. I was being serviced in the best way possible, but my yearnings were getting worse, and not being mitigated. Whenever I think I've seen it all, Thanatos finds a new way to Tantrically torture me, not that I was going to complain.

Suddenly Thanatos rolled over, and pulled me on my back. We were still connected, and he was still thrusting into me, still ejaculating, still creating all those delightful sound effects, and giving me his all with an absolute minimum of friction.

Stefan...Stephanie...the fellation ended, and she mounted me. She bounced up and down on me in rhythm with Thanatos like no tomorrow, and then after a little bit she contracted so tight that she couldn't move so fast any more. In fact, she almost couldn't move at all. Warm, soft, drenchingly wet with a combination of her own and Than's fluids, and as tight as a vice.

I would have climaxed eons ago, if it had been up to me. It wasn't. I was kept on edge again. Thanatos had his arms across my chest, restraining me with a powerful hold. There was a seductive vehemence to his thrusts that was making my experience all that much more intense. "LET ME GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I finally screamed.

Thanatos took that instruction correctly. I was 'let go' to experience a climax, not for him to ease his restraint on me. I didn't want that.

Well, I did. And it was prolonged again. It wouldn't end. It couldn't end. Stef resumed her bouncing up and down on my shaft again, though with more grip than before.

Eventually, Thanatos withdrew from me. I was still in a state where there was no way to satisfy me. Stephanie pulled off of me, and got on all fours. I accommodated her. I thrust away in a desperation that I'd never felt before. Thanatos came up behind me. "Wait. I know what I'm doing. You won't be hurt."

I smiled. "GO!!!!!!!!"

He got in me, and held me close. I resumed my thrusting, and Thanatos was more or less glued to me during the whole time. I don't know how he did it, but he reached under me, held my sack, pressed just hard enough to drive me even more bonkers and massaged my perineum whilst I was still thrusting with him in me, and I think this culmination on top of a culmination was even more intense than the last one I had with him, if that were possible.

If I were standing, I would have collapsed in a heap. I would have fallen forward if Thanatos wasn't supporting me, but he made sure I had a gentle landing in the mess beneath us all.

Thanatos cleaned the mess up, and I got comfortable. He materialised a sheet and some blankets over me. "Actually, I wouldn't mind passing out after what you two just put me through," I said softly.

Thanatos stroked my hair. "Feel free. We'll wait for you."

"Hm." I fell asleep in minutes! Stephanie switched back to masculine form, and wrapped him self around me from the front.



*****



Thanatos looked at Stefan with a gleam in his eyes. "You're next."

Stefan laughed. "Dude! You know damn well I felt everything you felt and everything Donn went through. You also know that I am going to request that you shoot me in the head with a 45 magnum at point blank range before you make me go through that again either direct, or vicarious."

Thanatos laughed. "I know. I was kidding. It won't be necessary, but I must admit I am not quite through with Donn. I'm going to manipulate his dreams, and would you like to help me add a little umph to that?"

"I used to phantasise about being in his position after you brought me to Tech Duinn, all the time in those early days."

"I know." He got under the covers, and spooned my unconscious self, encapsulating me with Stefan. "I'm not going to let him wake up for a while. Be as gentle as you can."

Stefan switched gender again, and chuckled. "You know, you are the ultimate screwdriver."

Thanatos laughed so hard, he fell on his back. "Ye gods, Stef!"

"But I swear, you must be the best in existence, in this sort of thing. The ultimate artist in making out."

He winked at her. "Thanks."

"Certainly the most beautiful, along with Donn."

"And Deliah!"

"In male," said Stephanie.

"Thanks again, for both of us. Now let's finish this guy off before we retire from this."

"What a way to word it, though I swear after this I wonder if he will still be around."

"Of course. We couldn't exist without him, anyway."

"You're telling me."





































































AFTER THE LAST SURRENDER



I awoke in a pulsating rapture. No, I didn't give my consent, but like I cared?

I was in the feminine. Stefan was in the masculine again; and he was behind me, in me, thrusting slowly, and playing with my left nipple. Thanatos was in front of me, in me, but not thrusting. The circumference of his shaft was rhythmically increasing and decreasing by a very noticeable amount whilst my more sensitive parts were being psychically manipulated in ways that were beyond touch. My insides were also being squirted with a pressure I could almost feel from both, and I heard what I was forced to exude as a result, which I found strangely fascinating. Than also had his mouth affixed to my right nipple, and I was actually feeding him. A first time for me, and it was quite a nice touch.

I was about exploding in sensory overload. I had been dreaming of this, and more things that just weren't possible to accomplish within the confines of conventional reality, then I awoke to this. All the dreams I'd just had were about as licentious as they could come.

I grabbed hold of Thanatos, and held him tight. I groaned. I almost couldn't take this.

At least this time, I was allowed a culmination in a decent amount of time, and I wasn't drawn out for however long I'd been drawn out before. Both Stefan and Than disconnected themselves from me, and of course I was a big mess again. We all were. Until Thanatos cleaned us up again in the blink of an eye, that is.

Suddenly Thanatos was in a black satin-silk shirt, a black satin-silk neck scarf, black velvet bellbottoms, and a pair of harnessed boots. He was over me, propping himself up with his elbows. His tiger stripes were gone. "So...tell me how you feel."

I switched myself back to masculine. Red-blond hair, and no stripes! "Spent. Totally spent." I sat up, and materialised my black tunic and else on me.

"Emotionally?" asked Thanatos.

I scowled. Stefan was suddenly dressed in his Victorian gentleman/Count Dracula hybrid garb, and he got beside me to put his arm around me. I looked at Stefan, then at Thanatos. "I don't know. Over what was done to me?"

Thanatos brushed his finger down my nose. "Aye."

"You guys put a lot of work into me. Nice. I owe you guys one."

"No you don’t! As usual, we felt everything you felt, and you felt everything we felt," said Thanatos. "Let's look at the erotic pictures Stefan did, again. Then we'll go to the atrium by the front door whilst we have tea and those topped crackers I mentioned earlier."

I closed my eyes, and nodded. "OK."



*****



"These are such astounding works, really," said Thanatos. "In fact, I'm planning on adding to them."

"So am I," I said.

"But how do these paintings compare to what we've done?" asked Thanatos.

I laughed. "These paintings show our finest lusty moments in a tasteful way. If we hadn’t just done what we’d done, I might even be turned on by them."

"Want to do it all again after our meeting in the atrium?"

“NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I declared.

"Puhleeeeeeeease," said Stefan. "I don't know if I'll ever recover from that myself. “

I looked at him. "Considering all we have to do to feel like that again is to reflect on what happened, I don't know if I ever want to go through that again, regardless of how good it felt."

Thanatos put his arms around both of us, and we started walking toward the stairs. "Donn, remember when you were getting so off on pleasuring me via fellation, and contemplated doing that to me for an eternity?"

I chuckled. "Oops, huh?"

"Little bit," said Thanatos.

"You know, Than? I had no idea you could bring yourself to instigate what you did," said Stefan.

"I'm capable of just about anything and everything, as long as it leads to reunification of All," said Thanatos. He let go of us when we went up the two flights of stairs to ground level.

This was a weird place. The planet was occupied solely by animals that looked somewhat like what was on Earth, this was the only building on the planet powered by geothermal under it, a windmill, and it had a very large yard surrounded by hedges on two sides, trees in the back, and a black iron fence in front with a gate at the cobblestone walkway that had been left ajar on purpose. The house was an elaborate black and purple three story Victorian with attic, basement, and sub-basement, and done up in 18th century French style furniture.

We walked to the room with in front with the big glass windows. In it were many potted plants in states of perfection that would never change. We sat ourselves down at the round table meant for four, and Thanatos materialised a pot of tea, three cups, three small platters, and a large platter with his desired multi-seeded onion and garlic rye crackers topped with Meunster cheese, avacado, devilled egg yolk and olive half. I had a cracker, and it was damned good.

"This is a nice little escape place," I said to Stefan. "You have enough of them, huh?"

"Never. I'll build more," said Stefan.

"Oh, I don’t know about that," said Thanatos. “There might be no reason for it.”

Stefan bit into a cracker, and after he got it down, he said, "We are innately High Causal, and we still do this stuff. Tea and crackers, and why did we just have the wildest damn interlude we ever had this late in the game?"

Thanatos sighed. "My fault. I got to make out with Boadica under any other name, and I just couldn't keep my nostrils off the black haired, and striped Donn, as you would say."

"It was more than your nostrils you couldn't keep off of me, baby," I said.

Thanatos chuckled. "To say the least."

I raised my teacup to him. "So, have you got the ebon haired, striped me out of your system yet?"

Thanatos raised his cup in return. "Yes, but not the gorgeous red head, though not in the same way. I think we can move on, now."

"After Lucy, you took us to the Ultimate End. That was pretty intense, and I miss it, but I don't know if I can deal with it," I said. "I want to go back, but I don't, you know?"

"The only reason you could do it was because of me. In your own right, you couldn't have tolerated it. You're not ready. I'll take you there again, though. I'm going to try to get all of us to get there as quickly as we can. I'll try to develop an accelerated evolution project, though it may appear that I am throwing ratchets in the wheels of your currently blissful existences by doing so."

"Understood," said Stefan. "As long as I don't have to deal with the Physical Realm on its terms, I'm fine."

"Trust me! That's behind us."

Stefan had a sip of his tea. He smiled. "You know what might be fun?"

"Dude, making chemtrail planes explode in midair because the U.S. didn't have Taleban individuals with anti- aircraft guns is NOT our job,' said Thanatos.

I shook my head and laughed. "Stef, will you ever leave that place behind?"

"Nahhhhhhh. Bitching about the past is my favourite hobby. You know that!"

"We notice," said Thanatos. "There's no escape."

A platter of mayonnaise covered artichoke core pieces with toothpicks in them and another one of hazelnut chocolate just appeared on the table. Stefan reached for the artichoke. "And I haven't been tied up and gagged yet, so...

I reached for the chocolate. It would go great with the tea. "We'll live with it. Sometimes you're even funny when you talk about it. Thanks for thinking this up, Stef. I haven't had any good chocolate in forever."

Thanatos himself reached for the chocolate. "Neither have I. I obviously never think of it. Can I also tell you two something?"

"Sure," I said.

"You know, on how we do so much for each other? The paintings, the poetry, the monuments, and the rather novel interlude we just had? All that's unnecessary. It's ultimately superfluous, and it will have to stop soon. All that matters is you two, as you are. I know what you two feel for me, and that's way more than enough. It's also the only thing that you can give me, considering I am totally, fully, completely self-contained with no needs, and ultimately no wants except to keep us together."

"What about Lucy?" I asked. "Would we like to keep her?"

"We will keep her. She's taken a step backward in her last life, but that's being fixed by exposing her to our way. Yes, she's a pet project of mine. A piece of me is with her right now. Very soon the Celtic lady warrior she was will be again."

I nodded, and smiled. "Thank you for finding her. She didn't make a good first impression, but now that I know more about her..."

Thanatos shrugged. "Just another thing that was destined to be."

I bit into the chocolate. Damn, this rivalled Switzerland's finest. It tasted like it was made of the creamiest cream with no milk. It had a buttery characteristic, and when combined with the hazelnuts...it almost felt better going down than what I'd just experienced with those two. At least I'd want more chocolate, though I really wasn't sure I wanted to be ravished by Thanatos and Stefan again after what they did with me. Or anyone else, for that matter! Ye gods, but maybe that was the point, not that I was going to ask. It wasn't something I really wanted to know. "I want to stay here for a while," I said. "I must have a hundred paintings in mind that I'd like to add to Stefan's collection."

Thanatos looked at Stefan. "And you didn't paint yourself even once. Dude, you do measure up to us aesthetically."

"My nose does."

Thanatos raised his left eyebrow. "Actually I'd say that you measure up in spite of your nose, but being them thar is a'fightin' words, I don't think I'll say that."

“Wise decision," said Stefan.

I'm glad I didn't have a mouthful. I had to laugh at that exchange. "Well, Stef...I'm going to paint you. Fangs and all."

"Want me materialise tail, nose whiskers, and nose hair braids first."

"Ye gods! No, Stefan. I am not going to screw you up for this exhibit that no one but us will see."

Stefan gave me a raspberry.

Thanatos looked at Stefan. "I rather hope you never stop being so silly, my dear."

"Unlikely. I think I want to paint you as you are. Your clothes are a nice contrast. Maybe standing between Gilgamesh and Percy, and put Percy in neon eyes, too. Snowy background with a bunch of defoliated or dead trees."

"Sounds nice," I said. "I want to paint him in his tiger stripes, looking seductive. I also want to paint him about to pounce on you, Stefan."

“Sounds good," said Stefan.

Thanatos looked at me. "I'm going to paint you and Stef strategically accessoried, about to go at each other."

"Fine. Let's hit the studio after our little pointless snack," I said.

"Yes, let's," said Stefan.



*****



All three of us went into a frenzy. Every wall was covered by the time we got done with our painting 'fix'. I swear it was a part time addiction for us. None of us could stop until we got all our ideas on canvass, and we fed each other's imagination.

Well, it could have been worse. It was more productive than a heroin addiction.





































































RESPITE



Stefan was the last of us to finish his work. The later paintings got a bit more risqué, quite a bit more intimate, though the themes stuck with what was physically possible on Earth, and nothing as removed from the mundane reality, which we'd actually done. One that about floored me was a painting Stefan did of himself and Thanatos, both with fangs bared, predatory smiles, and me with a get-on-with-it expression. I found it quite amusing, considering it sort of reflected what had happened to me.

After Stefan put his brush down, he asked, "Want to explore the local area on by horse, pony or on foot?"

"Sure," I said. The green sky is nice. So are the four moons. Not quit as nifty as our twilight world, but not bad."

"I'd rather walk for the first exploratory trip," said Thanatos. "We can ride later, when we find a good place for it."

"There's tons of animal trails," said Stefan. "There're killer places to ride, both local, and other parts of this Etheric Eden. Also, everything that lives here wants to check me out. There's no hostility or any misgivings amongst anything."

"Understandable," I said. "And when you let the critters know where you're coming from, you have friends for eternity."

"More of less. You know, I like having just you two around like this with no other distractions every now and then."

"Same," said Thanatos.

"Is there a need for me to repeat that too?" I asked.

Stefan shrugged. "I guess not. Shall we start down the road down front? It doesn't go very far."

"Sure," I said.



*****



We did have all kind of animals come up to us. Some were reminiscent of felines, canines, cervines, birds, rodents, birds, and creatures that defied classification on Earth. We walked for quite a while, and then sat under a tree by a stream. Various creatures came and nosed us, got petted a few times, and walked or flew away. My kind of place!

Another Peaceable Kingdom in the Low Etheric Heavens. We've seen a lot of them, and we'd never tire of them.

Eventually Thanatos lay back, and Stefan and I ended up using him as a pillow whilst laying perpendicular to him. "What are we to each other," asked Stefan. "How do you define our relationship?"

"Perfect," said Thanatos.

"Comrades in arms. Kind of along the lines of the Spartan soldiers, I guess," I said.

"Good analogy," said Thanatos. "We are a bit more individualistic and quite a bit less millitant, though."

"I would hope," I said.

"Being here is great! No stress of any sort," said Stefan.

"Nice for a while," said Thanatos. "I must admit I've been beckoned by my last case, and after my other division is through with Lucy for the time being, I think I'll fully consolidate, and we can stay here for a while and time trip back to just after we left. Let me completely join you two in your vacations from everything."

Ah, yes. A period of nature walks, exploration by horseback, shared tea in the atrium or in front of a fireplace, and random art projects. Sounded a lot like the usual existence, now that we've retired completely, minus a bit of bantering with Percy, Reggie, or Macha. Well, us three did that enough with each other, considering some of the topics Stefan instigated. We'd probably be bored stiff in no time, but until that time arrived...

"What's with Lucy, anyway?" I asked.

Thanatos smiled. "She’s with Macha, and Kevalyn, along with my other self. Looks like we might have another unholy trinity in the making. Lucy is in the process of convincing herself to take on her old form of Boadica. I'm not really sure yet, but that might get her laid by moi one more time."

I laughed. "How sweet of you."

"Maybe," said Thanatos.

"With your new techniques?" asked Stefan.

"I'll ask."

"You didn't ask me," I said.

"I didn't hear you object," said Thanatos

I sat up, leaned over him, and and kissed his nose. "How stupid do you think I am?"

Stefan also sat up, and so did Thanatos. Thanatos said, "If I knew you two would have objected to the bukkake bonanza, I wouldn't have done it."

"I'll say, what you did was quite interesting," said Stefan. "I have to admit it's weird having my physiology rearranged by someone outside of myself, though."

I chuckled. "Dude! This guy forced me into a complete gender change. You know how weird it is to pass out as one gender, then to wake up being another? Not to mention everything else!"

"It was great, huh?" asked Stefan.

"I wouldn't trade it for anything, but I swear! If it happens again, I am going to hire Percy to lick somebody's nose," I said.

"That's my line," said Stefan.

"I must admit I'm surprised I survived those sensations," I said.

"To tell you the truth, so am I," said Stefan. "If I'd had my mind all to myself, unshared, and the experience not mitigated by the perpetrator here, I think I would have gone supernova." He was pointing at Thanatos. "And to be trapped with those sensations for so long?"

Thanatos ruffled our hair concurrently. "Not that you can be destroyed, I'll never drive you guys past what you can handle. You know I'd never hurt you in any way."

I wrapped myself around Thanatos. "For the umpteenth time, I love you so much."

He kissed me on the forehead. "Same. Both of you." He extended his hand to Stefan, and it ended up as another three-way hug. "Let's walk home, and enjoy the actual day and night of this place. Open the window to the attic, and watch the aqua sunset of this place."

"What a concept. With tea, of course," said Stefan.

"Of course," said Thanatos.



*****



The single window was small, and there were a few trees in the way, but there was enough visibility to see the sun at the horizon in the here and now. It was a trip. The light green sky faded to a dark blue-green, and the sun shone dark green now that it was about to set. An Earthborn individual could not exist on the Physical counterpart of this planet. The atmosphere was too different, but we were Etheric, on the Etheric version of the place, so it didn't matter.

As we watched the sun go down, and I finished my cup of chai, I wasn't sure I ever felt more nostalgic in my life. I felt like I was having the ultimate Norman Rockwell moment, or something. I felt so warm and cozy, and so in place. I felt like I should be nowhere else.

Stefan put his left arm around me. He absorbed my mood. Thanatos, looked at us, finished his tea, dematerialised his cup, stepped behind us, and embraced us both. "Nice, huh?"

"Totally," said Stefan.

"I feel kind of mystical," I said.

"Understood. It's almost more peaceful than Tech Duinn," said Stefan.

I shrugged. "Same realm. This place is wild, though. Untamed. Tech Duinn was my baby. Everything there was there because I put it there. Completely custom made to order."

"No noise but the wind, the wind chimes, the creak of the gate, the birds, and the insects," said Stefan.

"As Earth was meant to be," I said. "In balance."

"Well, nothing will ever disrupt this place," said Thanatos. "Outside of your few square kilometres that is, Stefan."

"I could disappear this place," said Stefan.

"Or put it on your black rock that you put together. At least store the paintings there," said Thanatos. "Nothing else means anything. This isn't the most beautiful building you've put up, and there's nothing special about it."

"OK." said Stefan. "Before we go, so does this place. I'll restore it to how it was."

Thanatos winked at him. "Good idea."

I looked directly at the setting sun. It wasn't bright enough to be uncomfortable anymore. "You know, Than? We have gone past our era and go back to visit, but it's not really our place anymore. I wonder if we shouldn't erase all evidence of our existence in the timeline past Ahau Kankin."

"Think you can live with that? Wiping all your beautiful and elaborate projects into oblivion, including Tech Duinn?"

I shrugged. "It always will be somewhere in that illusion of time. It's in the Akashic Library, too. I won't miss not going back. We are fully retired now, unless we have a personal issue like what you had with Lucy, so shouldn't we concentrate on other things? Universal exploration and evolution?! Omniscience in general?"

"Reunification!" exclaimed Stefan. "I want to go back to when Thanatos took us all the way Home."

Thanatos stroked Stefan's nose once. "Now as soon as we get the others to see that, we can move on. We won't be coming back to this, though. Not ever. No more painting, no more putting up buildings, no more sculptures, no more blow jobs, no more skating, no more riding exhibitions, no more dancing down the halls, no more nose pets, no more..."

"STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Stefan. "WHAT DO YA MEAN, NO MORE NOSE PETS?!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Thanatos looked at Stefan. "How can I pet what ain't thar, kiddo! Noses go away after the Etheric Plane."

Stefan brought the back of his hand to his forehead, and bent his knees in the most dramatic pose he could muster. "Ahhhh, woe is me! My sole reason for existing, will exist no more!"

I chuckled. "Stefan, I swear! I've said it before, and I'll say it again!"

He looked at me, and smiled. "If I wear serious, you'd disown me!"

I chuckled. "Darn tootin'."

"Oh, let's go down stairs. The sun hath set, and the show is over," said Thanatos.

"Aye," I said.

*****



After we looked at the paintings again, we crash-landed on the couch in front of a roaring fire. Stefan said, "Amazing how such lovers of peace and bliss as us, always sought the wackiest adventures."

"Ah, yes! We do like to play games," said Thanatos.

I chuckled. Not only with others, obviously. I still remember all that shite Stefan instigated. Challenging me to a race around the perimeter of Tech Duinn, and changing himself into a cheetah, all those times we hit the ocean temperature sensitive, froze our nose hairs off, and actually ran back to the castle to land in the spa to warm up?"

Thanatos said, "Gods, we had fun. All the rides we took together exploring new worlds, experiencing a supernova first hand, the time we went right up to an erupting volcano, the spelunking?

Stefan said, "Or just like what we just did? How many sunsets have we watched? How many cups of tea have we shared? How many times did we just loll around in the grass of Tir na nOg, or the Elysian Fields, or the Realms of The White Cities, and how many back rubs did we give each other, and..."

Thanatos interrupted, "How many times did you take us to oblivion?"

"No clue, but it's been forever," said Stefan. "I have no desire to do that again as either the one taking over or surrendering the mind."

"Neither do we," said Thanatos. "There's nothing to escape from anymore. No regrets left. It's just a waste, these days."

"I loved the poetry readings," said Stefan.

"So did I," I said.

"Not bad, but I was always the one doing the reading aloud," said Thanatos.

"You have a very nice voice," said Stefan.

"Since you lost your preference for the alto, huh?"

"I've always liked tenors," said Stefan. "Next best thing, when I had a preference. Gods, and the tunes we composed, the ice dances we put together, our own poetry which has gone by the wayside?"

I ruffled Stefan's hair. "We wrote so obsessively for a while, we thought that would never end. I guess we've written everything there is to write about."

"We were starting to repeat stuff," said Stefan."

"Little bit," said Thanatos. "All I can say is that it's been good. Damn good."

I had middle position, so I put an arm around both Stefan and Thanatos. Of course, they returned the hold. I said, "It couldn't be better, though as I look back, I'm amazed how we all got together again, and what's even more amazing, is our past lives overlapping once, Stef."

"In the worst possible way," said Stefan.

"But it's all OK now, so who cares?!" said Thanatos.

"Darn tootin'," I said.

"But I will bitch about it for eternity, nevertheless," said Stefan.

"At least," said Thanatos.

Both Stefan and I laughed.















THE CLEARING OF SELF



We were sitting in the back of the house, around a lit fire pit. We were on the ground, on smooth dirt. "We're all done, in the here and now? Happy with what we've accomplished?" asked Thanatos

Stefan scowled. "I never skydived out of a weather balloon like Joe Kittenger, and I still haven't been to a long piglet luau."

Thanatos laughed. "And as a mortal, you haven't been forced to stay awake for two weeks straight, or put in an iron maiden, or been thrown in a vat of hydrofluoric acid, or..."

I just had to cut in, "I think I'd prefer all that to jumping out of the weather balloon. Especially with that pressure suit malfunction Joe had. Gods, you saw what happened to his hand?"

"Swelled up a bit. Oh well. I'm not of the military mindset, anyway," said Stefan.

"Dude, you're not of ANY mindset. You are a nose onto yourself!" said Thanatos.

"Thank you," said Stefan.

Thanatos materialised a cup of tea for himself. "You know, you two...I think I'm going to leave you alone in a little bit. I'm going to go back and work with the others. You guys can reflect on your pasts, and make sure you have everything ironed out to the very last wrinkle, so we can move forward with no setbacks."

I pointed at myself. "You trust us alone?"

"Thanatos shrugged. "Aye. Right now, I trust you to screw each other's brains out."

"I think you already did that," I said. "I'm not sure we have any brains left to screw out."

Thanatos raised his cup. "You never know."



*****



Stefan and I ended up going to Tech Duinn for the last time. We had landed in the garden, and were walking the paths. "Amazing, all the mistakes we made, huh?" asked Stefan.

"You know, I don't think we made any mistakes. Granted it may not have seemed like it at the time it happened, but look at where we are now. If things had been different, things wouldn't be the same now."

"Duh! Gods, I am so out to lunch."

"You've got your mind on creating things. Your mind is always racing to come up with new ideas, so I guess that deters you from thinking things through on occasion."

"On occasion. Thanks, though that's the understatement of eternity."

I put my arm around him. "I wouldn't change a thing about you."

"Not even my nose?"

I looked at him. "When you originally modified it, I have to be honest in saying it took a little getting used to, especially when you take the feminine gender, but now? No complaints. It doesn't look bad, and it makes Red Tail the perfect nickname for you. You're beautiful.

"But I think you and Thanatos leave me in the dust."

"I don't," I said. "We may be a Kyle Shannon nose hair's length ahead of you, but that's negligible."

"Talk about a backhanded compliment."

"Just being honest."

"One final spin in the spa?"

"Sure. I'm in the mood for ‘nose’ oil in the water."

"Not jasmine, huh?" asked Stefan.

"I have my moments. I like something different now and then. Let's walk every last path in this garden first, though."

"To be wiped from 2012 and beyond."

"Except in the Akashic records, but any of our kind as we are now can always time trip back if they absolutely have to see it."

"That concept how everything is forever yet not would have given me a migraine, when I was mortal."

I shrugged. "Until you learn Physical Law is a bunch of crap. A trap of a belief, if you pardon the rhyme."

"The Physical Realm! The land of ignorance."

"For a reason, of course. Harsh school, babe."

"Indeed. Too bad I didn't have your sense; and only lived in it a couple times before I got out of the scene!"

"Dude! You're with me forever! That made it worth it, right?"

Stefan smiled. "Darn tootin'!"



*****



One last time, we went temperature sensitive, shed our clothes in the freezing hall, opened the door to the spa, and enjoyed the low-key sauna action the never cooling whirlpool generated. We both got in the water slowly, I hit the pink lever to let loose the rose oil, we sat down, and I looked at Stefan with a raised left eyebrow.

"Yes?" He asked.

I smiled, switched gender, got him ready, got up, and straddled him. We embraced each other, and just sat there. "I want polarity for a wee bit."

"So I see. Do you want anything more?"

I kissed him on the nose. "Maybe later. Now let's just become one in mind."

Stefan nodded, as we just sat there connected, and wrapped around each other.

So relaxed, so in love, so unified...for a while we entered a world that was on the border of sleep. We stayed like that for a very long time, yeah, not that time exists, but hey! For the umpteenth time, how else can I phrase it?



*****



Thanatos was with Boadica, as she was in history. The redheaded warrior queen! She'd been completely reconsolidated, and decided on taking on the form of her more noble past. "You're my very last. I now declare myself fully retired, and ready to move on," said Thanatos.

Boadica put down the last volume of he Gate Keepers' Archives. "I've read the first ten volumes even before I became Lucy, but I didn't know about the short stories. They were written too late. Thank you for the reread to see how crazy you guys are, and the short stories prove you're crazier than I ever could have imagined, but as you say, I mean that in a good way."

Thanatos chuckled. "Thank you very much."

"From the sanest of your lot. It's me that should be thanking you for inviting me to stay with you."

"But you do understand it will be nothing like what you've read about. We already spend most of our time in the Low Causal, with our visits to The Akashic Castle diminishing, and our visits to Tech Duinn almost nonexistent, except for what we just did that Donn and Stefan aren't quite done with."

Boadica nodded. "It doesn't matter. I think I've done it all, and that's what you're supposed to feel before moving on, isn't it?"

"True. Most of us are ready, and I want to get us to bypass the High Causal, and just head straight for the Mental Realm as it is more commonly known to those inclined to study the Afterworlds, as they call them."

"Who's not ready?"

"Sylvia. She’s almost there, though. I can work with her, and it shouldn’t take long."

"Am I ready?"

"Close enough after you faced a closure with your last life," said Thanatos.

"Do I detect an urgency in you?"

Thanatos smiled. "Not an urgency, but a minor irritation with myself. Let's say I rather feel I've let myself be chained to the Lower Levels long enough by my own stupidity and nostalgia. Considering that I've seen HOME again rather recently, I do have a desire to return all the way. In fact, I think a part of me will go there and stay there for good, but I've gotten spoiled recently on being entirely in one place. I rather like it, and I'm going to try to get us moving forward a bit faster. It shouldn't be too hard. Getting the Physical and Etheric Planes out of your system is the worst of the journey. The ego factor, you know?"

"I still have one of those, but for different reasons."

"We all do, to a degree. Getting off on our self-containment, evolution, accumulation of knowledge, and all that. Not a desire to flaunt ourselves. In fact, we are in the process of wiping out all trace of ourselves from the post Ahau Kankin era right now, where it matters. Being it's not our era, and all.

Boadica smiled. "You didn't even leave your signatures on anything but your paintings which were only in your households and The Museum of The White City. No one knew who put up your buildings in your parallel worlds, if they even found them."

Thanatos shrugged. "We were mostly out to entertain ourselves and each other. Donn was an exception to that, but he was a magnet to meet some really cool historical figures...like you."

Boadica chuckled. "Thanks. And thank you again for taking me on even though I wasn't as I am now in my last life. Also what you and Donn did for me. That was great."

"More like what we did for your other incarnation."

"I feel rather venerated to be your last."

"Actually, I thought I'd done my last already, and I just ran across you and couldn't let you go. This version of you reminds me so much of a much younger Macha it’s almost scary. In all the good ways, of course."

Boadica tilted her head. "And what does that mean?"

"You know what she was like, but you share her more honourable attributes."

"Would you like to fight me in the ring?"

Thanatos shook his head. "No. There'd be no point to that. I’d flatten you in seconds. Let's get your favourite horse, and let's go for a ride."

"I'd like that very much."



*****



Stefan and I gave each other our best, in every way shape and form. We ended up on the High Nirvanic, which was as high as we could go, completely losing ourselves in each other. We really didn't want to go back, but we had to. This wasn't our place yet, but we were going to get a hell of a lot closer than we were, very soon. We'd be able to stay here with that gnawing pull driving us back to where we belong, a little weaker.

There was a time we could only access this place with the help of Thanatos, but at least we could do it on our own now, though not for very long. It was a fish out of water type of deal.

When we were done, we went to our native Low Causal Realm. To our perception, we stayed there a very, very long time, as a single entity. I won't write about that, because basically, I can't. It's beyond words.



*****



On the desert floor, with The Akashic Castle, Thanatos was on Gilgamesh, and Boadica was on a tall, powerful liver chestnut. They were racing toward the never-setting sun, and they'd been going for a while.

Boadica gave a war cry, and had her stallion run right beside Gilgamesh. She was smaller than Thanatos, but she unhorsed him through skill, and the fact he didn’t fight her was a major consideration. If he had, both would have gone to the ground.

He had been expecting it, and he landed on his feet. She circled him, and materialised a sword. She moved in front of him, and pointed it at his throat. "So, are you my conquest?"

Only for the sake of role-playing! Thanatos chuckled. "Do with me as you will, my lady."

The sword went back to wear it came from, and Boadica easily jumped off her stallion. She brought both Thanatos and herself to the ground with no degree of gentleness whatsoever. "One last time, huh? Keith?"

Thanatos closed his eyes, and nodded. "Aye."

"And would you say you owe me one for how you originally seduced me to live out your ancient phantasy of having the Queen of the Iceni over you, under you, or what have you?"

"I suppose I do."

"Then can you for this last time act like a man, and not a lustless god who's only in it for the art?"

"I'm also in it for my lover. Not only the artistic aspect of expression."

In less than a minute, his clothes were shredded, and it even less time than that, Boadica cut off her own tunic.

'Keith' was back like he'd just rolled off the altar of where he'd been put together and re-inhabited by the one who forgot him self.



*****



Stefan and I viewed our Akashic Records as we were deleting everything we ever created for every case we dealt in from the 'time frame' not of our era. It wasn't that hard. It was like having a list, and just crossing a line through the items.

"What about this place?" asked Stefan.

"The last to go," I said. "We move on, and leave no monuments. We can't take anything with us but the memories anyway, so who cares? All that's important is that we're together, and that's all that's going to be."

"True. And you know something?"

I smiled. "Aye. If you could change anything in your past, you wouldn't. But if I asked you if you forgive your past, you would say no, which makes about as much sense as you saying the Universe is contained in your right nostril."

"But it can be if I so choose," said Stefan.

I sighed. "I pray to every deity in the Pantheon you never do."

Stefan laughed. "Ye gods, no! Imagine the responsibility that goes with that?"

"You know, I can't believe we're talking about this."

"Just remember who you're talking to."

"Never mind," I said. "We're almost done. Let's finish up."

"OK. You know, I really wonder how Thanatos is going to collect up the rest of us."

"They won't need much prodding. The only issue is that Sylvia is a little too much like you in all the worst ways, but she's no Macha, and Thanatos will be able to ready her, me thinks. After all, he can do just about anything."

"He can't convince me to reformat my nose to how it was."

"Note I said just about anything, and not everything."

"Thanks."



*****



Thanatos lay under an Oak in Tir na nOg with Sylvia, and her head was on his chest as she lay perpendicular to him. "So, while you're here with me, Boadica is having her way with you at the Akashic Castle."

"In the desert beneath it, really. From an outside perspective, it looks more like I'm having my way with her, but she is truly the commander of the situation. I'm acting on her thoughts and desires."

"Anyway, back to the point of this conversation. Yes, I would like to move on. I do miss the Higher Planes, but like you note, I do still have an attachment to what was, both good and bad. I'm not sure I can give it up in my head, totally. I still revel in my accomplishments, and vindictive moments, and such. Yes, I can wipe them out, but I can't completely let go just yet. I'm the only one left, huh?"

"If you can’t get over yourself for a little, a piece of us will wait for you. We can't let you go, but you’re so borderline I don’t think we’ll have to."

"What's it like being divided up between Planes?"

"For me, no problem. For the others it would be a little distracting for a while, and I will have to help them. There's more to it than simple time tripping. The closest analogy I can think of is it's like multi-tasking."

"Like walking and chewing gum at the same time?"

"More like answering phones and typing at the same time."

"And of course becoming one in mind never works for very long."

Thanatos shook his head. "No. You always go back to your own innate way of thinking. There are no shortcuts. You have to figure out a way to motivate yourself to let go of your past." He stroked her hair.

"You are something else."

"So are you. You've done wonders for Warren."

Sylvia laughed. "I'm so glad he was available for me. He reminds me of you in a lot of ways. How calm and gentle he is, and how obsessed with learning."

"The latter is because of you. You were a very good influence on him, unlike his former mortal compatriots."

Sylvia got up, and lay on her front, resting her chin on her hands. "And he's almost as good looking as you."

"I had the unfair advantage of being put together from scratch using a Tuatha model. Warren was born that way."

"Amazing how you never became corrupted."

Thanatos sat up. "Au contraire, my dear. I was completely lost to myself after I destroyed my original form. I was trained to be completely different from what I was meant to be, and I never went back to it even after I found my true self. I have become corrupted in my modification."

"Wasn't your primary goal always to just set everything right, and work on reuniting The Source?"

"After I became aware of the fact this needed doing."

"Then you never really got off the beaten path. You just found another way to do it that was more suitable for the additional things you learned."

Thanatos chuckled. "You're rationalising things for me that I no longer care about. I'm just stating what is. Now let me ask you something. What's more important to you than anything?"

Sylvia thought about it for a moment. "Ultimately? Us."

Thanatos also sat up. "Correct answer. So, make it happen."

Sylvia nodded. "I'll see what I can do. Do you recommend Carlos Castaneda's recapitulation technique?"

"I think it may help."

Sylvia reached forward, and ran her right index finger down Than's nose. "Thanks. I'll go do that."

"Thank you more."



*****



After Stefan and I finished our last make-out session, we walked the indoor holographic garden of The Akashic Castle. We were moving slowly, hand in hand. I was back in the masculine. "We get rid of this place and the city behind us after we're gone," I said.

Stefan looked at the mist at our feet. "Gods, so much of our early history sucked."

I looked at him. "I know. I wish I hadn't been so harsh with you in the beginning, but I had no clue."

Stefan smiled. "And when I was a mortal, I blamed you for every problem I had because I wasn't with you, even though I wasn't with you due to my own indecision at the time we met."

I chuckled. "Not to mention you couldn't stand me when you first laid eyes on me due to the rejection of your mother's attempted programming regarding that Aryan supremacy garbage."

"Well, I was programmed. Just in reverse. Yeah, I got RPGed. (RPG is an IBM acronym for Reverse Programme Generator.)"

I caressed his hair, and kissed his nose. "I'm so glad I managed to win you over before you went back to life, though it did take you a while to rediscover that."

"Aye. Four damn years! But if I'd remembered any earlier, I might not have made any of those stupid yet brilliant moves that eventually brought us together."

I had to laugh. "Indeed."

"After this, shall we go back to the others, or let Thanatos just take care of everything?"

I shrugged. "We're close. So damn close! I think the others can exist without us for the duration."

He embraced me. "Thank you for being here."

I hugged him back. "And you gave me your life. Both me and Thanatos, really."

Stef put his chin on my shoulder. "I wish he were here."

I ran my left hand down his back, and over his rear. "So do I. In a little while! Let's walk a little longer, then beckon him. He left us alone for a reason. So we can come to full terms with ourselves, each other, and what we've done with each other."

Stefan tightened his embrace. "It's all good."





































































































MOVING ON



At Thanatos' old flat in The White City, Thanatos, Sylvia, Warren, Macha, Kevalyn, Deliah, Ronin, Tonya, Andre, and Boadica were sitting on the stone benches on the rooftop garden. Thanatos was between Sylvia and Warren, and they were all wrapped around each other. "No, Donn and Stefan aren't coming back here. You're not going to see them as they were, again."

"So shall we all stay together to go to the Akashic Library, and wipe everything on this side of time out, together?" asked Tonya.

"It might be easier to just split up and do it with our bonded ones," said Thanatos. "It would be more direct with fewer distractions. That way, we can get down to business and get on with it. There are also a few things that won’t be wiped out, because they are in use. Stefan’s wildlife sanctuaries?"

"Understood. I have to admit, I am getting a little agitated from the stagnation," said Kevalyn. "I'm glad we're moving on, but the Mental Plane? Are we ready to bypass the Middle and High Causal?"

"It'll be a little awkward at first, but you'll all settle. The discomfort won't last, and I'll do everything I can to help things along. You'll thank me in the long run," said Thanatos.

"We can probably thank you now," said Ronin. "When have you ever done us wrong?"

"Hopefully never," said Thanatos. "I'd like to keep it that way." He looked at Sylvia. "So, you think you've got everything out of your system yet? Your ego under complete subjugation?"

Sylvia shrugged. "You know, I don't really know. You tell me."

Thanatos chuckled. "Dude, you're work is still there on Earth, Pre-Ahau Kankin. Everything else will be in the Akashic Library, and archived in our heads forever. Nothing you did will be truly lost. Just removed from places it doesn't belong."

"You're split up," said Macha. "Where is the rest of you?!"

"HOME," said Thanatos. "All the way HOME. Back with Source! I must confess to having gone there recently to finish up an encounter with my bonded ones, and I can't leave again. Not all of me. I want the rest of me...of us...closer."

"Is our rate of evolution accelerating?" asked Deliah.

"If time were really linear, I'd say so. Considering how long you've spent on the Wheel of Reincarnation? Then how much illusory time was spent in the Low Etheric, then the High Etheric of the White City, and then moving back and forth between the Astral, and the border of the Akashic Castle, then the Low Causal, and still not quite being able to give up the Akashic Castle all the way?"

"But we finally can give up the Akashic Castle on a permanent basis," said Kevalyn. "At least I can."

"We all can," said Macha. "We've talked about it."

"Aye," said Sylvia. "The only problem was with me being less than willing to erase my art from anywhere!"

"But we left things out of place, like alien invaders," said Andre. "It wasn't right to leave evidence from our visitations our of era."

"Well, I think I can handle it," said Sylvia. "I may have a few regrets now and then, but think the reward is worth it."

Thanatos brought his arm up from around her, and ruffled her hair. "Close enough, huh?"

She kissed him on the cheek. "Is that what you see?"

"It is," said Thanatos.

"Then it must be so," said Sylvia.

"Then let's go," said Andre.

"Yes, let's." said Warren.

Thanatos winked at him. "You do that. Now, if you'll all excuse me, somebody wants me."

Macha asked, "See you on the Other Side?"

Thanatos stood up. "All the way. We'll be waiting for you."

"Thanks," said Boadica.

"Any time," said Thanatos before he disappeared before them.























































































THE FINAL FLING



Thanatos appeared to us just as we were leaving the garden. "All's OK?" I asked.

"Couldn't be better," said Thanatos. "We're moving on, and we'll meet everyone at our destination."

Stefan sighed. "No more nose."

"You'll find something else, I'm sure," said Thanatos. "In fact, you don't really need a nose to come up with more nose jokes."

Stefan smiled wanly. "I'll never see you two like this again. I know Deliah is a fox and a half, but from a physical standpoint, I don't think I've ever seen anything as beautiful as you two."

"Again, don't let Percy hear you say that," said Thanatos. "Or Shiva, for that matter."

Stefan chuckled. "In human form."

Thanatos looked first at Stefan with a scowl, and then at me. He had a slightly exasperated tone to his voice when he said, "Shall we humour Red Tail? You in black hair and face stripes for the very last time?"

I closed my eyes. Oh, you have got to be kidding! Oh well. "And you in the real tiger stripes."

"Hm hm."

Stefan asked, "And do you guys mind if I just watch until I or we can't stand it any more?"

"You already painted it all, so I hope you don't hold yourself up for another one of those after we’re done," said Thanatos.

Stefan shook his head slowly. "No. Just want one final viewing of you two at your best."

I sighed. "Wouldn't we look better in the ring with sword in hand, though Thanatos would have to take it easy on me, considering sword fighting is not my forté."

"No," said Stefan.

"Stef, have you ever thought that what I went through first with Boadica as Lucy and then you and Thanatos might be more than enough to last me though all of eternity?" I think I really felt that way. I still haven't recovered.

"Lust isn't the point for my unspoken request that Thanatos read. You guys can go easy. I just want the visuals one final time of the two ravishing forms I will never see again, except in flashback memory after we get to where we're going."

"Dude, you are going to be us after we get to where we're going. We will be one. It's not even going to be important to your third of our being for very long," I said.

"And you know what we look like that high up. It's more beautiful than any façade in this realm," said Thanatos.

"Not that we even perceive things the same way," said Stefan.

"All you have to do is think about what was, and you see it," said Thanatos.

"You don't really want to do this either, huh?"

"Stef, we are both a bit burned out. I mean, we took it beyond the beyond several times in such a short period," said Thanatos.

I said, "We're gonna lose this debate, so why don't we just go easy. A nice artsy performance."

Thanatos held out his hand, and a vial of oil appeared in it. "OK. Dragon's Blood?"

I shrugged. "Sure. It's a nice scent. A change from the usual."

"Tech Duinn is gone from now. Do we go into the past, or set something up here?" asked Thanatos of Stefan.

"How about here? Four mirrored walls and ceiling?"

Thanatos closed his eyes. "You don't want to miss anything, huh?"

"No. Four fireplaces."

Thanatos shook his head, and laughed. "OK. Black satin under canopy! It's ready. Walk, or trans..."

We were transferred, via Stefan.



*****



I was laying on my front, and Stefan was stroking my hair as Thanatos was oiling every exposed part of me with a light, sensuous touch. I was in a very relaxed state, and almost wanted to go to sleep after a while.

"Both of you look so blissed out," said Stefan.

"We are," said Thanatos. "This is a nice pre-evolutionary conclusion."

"The tiger, and the gothic metal head is what you look like," said Stefan.

I smiled. "I've been called much worse."

"And he's never written a metal piece in his life. Folk rock is the closest he's come," said Thanatos.

He can sure play it, though," said Stefan.

I closed my eyes. "I'd really rather play our stuff than do other peoples' covers, these days."

Thanatos said, "Our stuff is generally better. Love those minor note progressions you two are so fond of. More intelligent lyrics, too."

"There're a few that match up. Some damn good commercial bands from my era," said Stefan.

"A few," agreed Thanatos. He got down, raked his nose up my back, and lay over me with his chest and midsection barely touching my back. Well, there was a little more, but shall bother writing the obvious? "Gods, you are so damn beautiful, babe. Thanks for asking for this, Stefan."

"No problem." Stefan moved back from me a little.

Thanatos got to my side, and rolled me over on my back. He put his hands together, then pulled them apart, and I ended up being completely doused by more oil. He covered me completely, and then started tracing my muscle lines. "I never dreamed I'd be doing this with you when we first met," he said.

"Neither did I," I said. "Not as my mirror image made to replace me known as Keith, anyway. I was open to sex with the Thanatos I knew, if he'd asked, which I didn't think he would have, and I wouldn't have asked him either, so... It was a drag to have been conditioned to be straight."

"Tell me about it, but with no outside influence, our relationship would have become like how it was before you were born on Earth, and before I destroyed myself. I kind of miss that time, yet I don't," said Thanatos.

"It was different. An unconditional love that just was," I said. "A love with no catalysts, but it was missing something."

Thanatos got to my side, rolled me on my side, and spooned me. "True, complete unity. Something the three of us are going to have when we are through here." He embraced me. "Donn, I feel that void you always complain about in this not being enough in showing you what I feel for you...and Stefan. That void will be banished for good after we're gone from here."

"But while we're here, how wild shall this last time be?"

"You mean how innovative, but there's nothing new to do," said Thanatos. "We've done it all. In fact, those last few times were pretty out of bounds for spur of the moment weird."

"Mmmmmmmm, and you took it to the limit, and forced it on us, not that I'm complaining," I said.

"Perpetually draining me in a blow job was not my idea, Vergil."

I chuckled. "I enjoyed that. I thought the mess we made after was kind of cool. And those liquid noises with the thrusts?! Keith, I think I do want you one more time."

He took a delicate hold of my shaft, and handled it just right. "That can be arranged."

I closed my eyes, bared my teeth, and snarled. "Oh, God!"

I was gently pulled onto my back, and Than went down on me. I'm sure he left Linda Lovelace light years in the dust. On the other hand, Than's service was entirely voluntary, unlike the under-threat Lovelace. Stefan went back to stroking my hair. "Damn, you're cute when you're enraptured."

'When you get to the edge, do you want it to end?' I got telepathically from Thanatos, who was in no position to talk.

I touched Stefan's wrist as I looked up at him. "Maybe not right away."

Stef traced his fingers down my left cheek. "I adore you so much. Both of you."

"We know."

Stef ran his hand over my chest. "I'd like to help Thanatos in driving you nuts, but you are going to have to get on your side."

"Wait a min...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!"

"For the second session, I guess," said Stefan before he leaned over to kiss me on the forehead.



*****



Thanatos appeared before Andre, Tonya, Macha, Kevalyn, Percy, Reggie, Boadica, Warren and Sylvia. He was struggling not to laugh. "Come on. Change of plans. We go to our new home, and Donn and Stefan will come later."

"Along with the rest of you?" asked Percy with his head tilted.

Now Thanatos did laugh. "Yes, you bastard. The part of me that isn't HOME, that is."

Boadica looked at Thanatos. "Somehow I get the feeling I shouldn't ask."

Thanatos doubled over. "Oh, ye gods, please!"

It took him a bit to recover, before transferring everyone to the so-called Mental Plane. After all were situated, he got the cheetahs, all the equines including Conner, Sarah, and every other creature dear to us that we'd found that I didn't write about. Yes, those of us who had stayed with us from The Archives also came with us, for they were in on this as much as the rest of us. It’s just I didn’t write of it, being they weren’t part of my core group, and not as close to me.



*****



Round two. Instant trip-reset. The Hell with a recovery period, as always! Ye...every deity in the pantheon. There may be nothing new we could do, but rare and unexpected was on the list.

I was on my side. Stef was in front, and Than behind me. Stef was about as skilled as Thanatos in fellation, and from Than I got caresses all over, scrumptious, delicate testicular massages, perineal massages, and an unexpected, more direct prostate massage...while he was holding me tight with his left arm, and he had his fangs in my shoulder, short of breaking skin, and not causing any pain at all.

I felt totally conquered, and in the gilded cage of lust and love.

They took me to the edge, and stopped. Thanatos let go of me. He backed off, and I felt his shaft go slowly down my spine...as it oozed… No, it didn't ooze! It spurted, hard and heavy.

I almost came to culmination just thinking about it, and what was going to happen next.

Whilst Stefan resumed his expert fellation, just playing with my foreskin with his tongue, Thanatos pressed the tip of his shaft against my sphincter. Oh, how I wanted him in me. It's like that part of me was starving.

He made a little progress, and then backed out. A little more! A little further each time, and that delectable slurping sound I was so focused on. A mess was being made again, and I was relishing every damn minute of it! It felt pretty good, and I almost wanted to roll around in it. A warm, slippery cream! Liquid velvet, I called it? Yeaaaaaaaaah.

Thanatos! Death did enter me completely. Finally. So careful, so gentle, so seductively sensual, as I felt both of our sensations, and the sensation of the poor, very aroused Stefan who was getting no action in his own right, but feeling everything Thanatos and I was feeling vicariously. It could have been worse for him, though. He could have been mortal.

Thanatos rubbed the delicious mess I had all over me from pre-entry, all over me. It was like getting a velvet massage. He thrust slowly, and Stefan timed his rhythm with Than as his lips moved up and down every millimetre of my shaft.

I was kept on edge forever. Thank you, Thanatos. I loved it, I hated it, it absolutely drove me nuts, but I can't say I wanted it any other way. Paradox city. The sweetest torture around!

Thanatos got in me all the way, held me real tight, and rolled us so I was on top of him. Stefan had backed away for a few seconds to let him do this, and then took over my shaft manually. I was finally allowed to climax, and one...more...time...it wasn't allowed to end. Neither the sensation, nor the emissions!

Stefan changed gender, and mounted me. Stephanie was the ultimate Asian style cowgirl rider, both in speed, and in grip. I just don't know how to describe what I was going through. To be climaxing, yet to still be stimulated and still want...NEED something further along that can't be experienced on the Physical Plane. So tight, so fast, so lubricated, oh, and those liquid noises of suction and slurps. I was overloaded, but I got that culmination on top of the culmination for a second time. Did it end?

Uh, no!

Stephanie changed gender again, and I was reformatted in the feminine again, thank you, Thanatos. With his left hand, Thanatos cupped my left breast. His right went to my nether regions and he did amazing things with my clitoris as Stefan thrust away to take care of himself in his own right...but he didn't finish himself off.

Stef paused, and his mouth went to my right nipple. He played with my right breast, Thanatos played with my left while still working my more sensitive parts down south, and Stef was still in me. We were all hanging on the strangest precipice I ever felt. Eventually Stef went to running his hands all over me, and I ended up totally covered in those smooth, sensual emissions that were puddled on top of, and around me.

Stef started thrusting again. Fast, and with a real desperation, this time! I bore down on him. Hard! Hard enough for a crashing stop. If not for the lubrication, I would have trapped him. He struggle to move, but he hit apex pretty fast.

Not that he was allowed to stop.

"Back off, Stef," said Thanatos. "Reset yourself. You know what to do."

"Gotcha."

"Get over here! PLEEEEEEEEEEEEEASE!" I yelled.

Stefan positioned himself so I could take care of him, and he could take care of me simultaneously in a sixty-nine. We did, and Thanatos was still in me to intensify the experience for me as much as it could be intensified. This time we felt a Higher Realm culmination in the Etheric. It came with us, as we lost our forms...and our identities in each other.

It was finally enough.

Forever.

In the realm where the cat and the archaeopteryx 'came one.








End of Volume Fifteen, End of Project

If you want more of my stuff, you can go back to my blog.  I've got a few poems and short stories there.  Some may even be amused by my pointless rambles.  Oh, and have you yet seen the pictures the biggest paradox of my existence drew to illustrate the story?

http://s8.photobucket.com/albums/a24/Morgan665/

I do like most of 'em, but there's a couple Morgan should have worked on a little more. Thanatos in a harness, especially.  Oo-la-la, for the actu. . .oh, never mind.