ALTERNATE: All The King\'s Boys

[Trillian]

IT WAS A COLDER NGHT than most, and Ben was having more trouble than usual staying warm.  He\'d started a fire at the back of the alley, but the flickering flames and promising warmth had drawn some vagrants a great deal tougher than him, who\'d chased him away from the flames and the meal he\'d been cooking, ready to eat.  Half a sausage wasn\'t much of a meal, but was all he\'d managed to scavenge that night and now it wasn\'t even in his belly.

He was closer to the mouth of the alley now, away from the flames and huddled in his clothes in the middle of a bunch of discarded printed paper.  He wasn\'t schooled in reading, but he knew that the pages would insulate him well if he shoved them down his shirt and kept them to his skin.  His feet were freezing and the bindings around his toes were coming loose.  He would lose his toes in the next few nights to frostbite, he thought, if he didn\'t get some better bindings soon.  He\'d have to run the risk of thievery again, to steal some warmth from those who sold it to those who didn\'t really need it because they had a room to stay in and fireplaces to keep them warm.  The last place he wanted to be were the city prisons; he wouldn\'t last in there, he knew.

He could hear people approaching from the street and slunk further into the shadows, against the wall and the garbage along it, keeping out of sight.  They were laughing and talking, a couple of males by the sound, and he\'d heard tales of some of them beating up on street trash.  Street trash like him.  He didn\'t want to attract their attention.

He got it anyway, even though he was in the darkest shadow and curled up into a tiny ball, one of the two men glanced in (and there were a couple of boys his age trailing along after them, and they were all well dressed) and stopped his gait.  He was tall and blonde, looking right at Ben even though Ben knew he shouldn\'t be able to see him in the dark, in the shadows, and he entered the alley, while the other man and the other two boys drew to a stop, watching him.

Ben held his breath, lowering his gaze in case his eyes were giving him away in the brief light from the fire further up the alley.  Perhaps they\'d glistened and that was what had captured the well-dressed gent\'s attention.  Even as quiet as he was, he could feel the other approaching, and the hairs on his nape prickled.  His stomach, however, didn\'t sense the danger quite so much as it sensed it\'s lack of food, and so it growled unhappily, reminding Ben that he really had to feed himself.

He looked up to see where the blonde man had gone, just in time to see a flash of a pale hand grip him by his ragged collar and haul him up to his feet by it.  Ben released a soft cry of alarm, not daring to yell out.  Held with easy strength against the wall while his feet balanced on tip toes, Ben stared at the shadowy figure that was the ponytailed blonde before him.  Cold fingers gripped his chin and turned his face to and fro before an invasive finger worked its way between his lips in order to check his teeth.

"Pretty, though dirty," came the critique, and on the street came a few giggles, from the blonde\'s entourage.  "How much do you charge, boy?"  The man wiped his hand on his vest while Ben struggled to answer.

"I don\'t," he said in a voice just over a whisper.  "I don\'t have anything to sell."

The blonde gent scoffed, still holding Ben up by his collar rigidly, so Ben couldn\'t get away even if he bothered to try - and he didn\'t.  It would be four against one even if he got anywhere, and there was nowhere to go.

"You have a pretty face and a tongue that seems to work.  How much to have you on your knees?" he asked, letting Ben know exactly what his proposition was.  The comment attracted a few more sniggers, and Ben wondered if this was something the blonde did often; paying a whore to service him while the others watched for sport.

"I don\'t charge anything.  I don\'t do that."

This seemed to give the blonde pause, and Ben was lowered to his feet properly, though the hold didn\'t loosen.

"You live on the street, yes?" he was questioned.

"Yes."

"So how do you get money?"

"I don\'t."

"So how do you eat?"

Ben paused, not wanting to describe how he sifted through other people\'s garbage for scraps, like a mutt would, and how he tried his best not to steal, but sometimes he had to.

"I eat whatever I find," he admitted finally, after a slight shake from the blonde to prompt him.

"So you scavenge.  Explains your smell."

More giggles, and Ben turned that way to look at them, except he was stopped by a hand on his chin once more, forced to look in front.

"Never mind them," the blonde hissed, his face immediately before Ben\'s own.  "How long have you been on the street?"

"Since... since I was twelve."

"And how old are you now?"

"Fifteen, I think," he said, knowing roughly his age by counting winters.  His birthday was always during winter, so it made sense to age himself that way, and knew his age by taking note of each winter he survived through.

"What\'s your name?"

"Ben."

There was another pause, with his face held in place by his chin, and so he kept eye contact with the blonde man even though he couldn\'t properly see him in the dark.  He wondered how the blonde had managed to see him so well, and figured there must\'ve been a sliver of moonlight on him to give him away.

"Hello, Ben.  I, am Lazarus," he said, announcing himself in a manner that implored Ben\'s response.

"Pleased to meet you," he said as politely as he dared, hoping that Lazarus would show him mercy and release him, though in his heart he knew that the blonde wanted something more out of him.  He was entertainment, he knew, and he hoped that the entertainment would end here, with an insult and then to leave him be while he returned with his entourage to his nice, warm home.

Lazarus laughed at the comment Ben made, and dropped his hold on Ben\'s chin, the hold on his collar loosening in order to slide his hand over Ben\'s right shoulder, his thumb at the base of Ben\'s throat.  He turned away from Ben, to look at his friend and his boys, and spoke to the other man.

"Rigby, have the coach brought here," he ordered before turning his gaze to Ben, who felt rather than saw the others continue on, leaving him alone in the mouth of the alley with the blonde.  His heart began to beat faster for some reason, like Lazarus was more dangerous when he wasn\'t being watched - even by his friends.  "Calm down, boy," he was told, like Lazarus knew he was beginning to panic.

"What do you want?" Ben had just enough strength to ask, though he didn\'t have much power in his voice.  He had terrible thoughts of being toyed with, murdered and discarded.  He was only a street urchin after all, boys like him were found dead all the time.

"I want to take you to my house and feed you, so you\'re not so skinny and your stomach not so loud, and bathe you, so you\'re not so dirty and your smell not so rank," Lazarus said, screwing up his nose which Ben could hear in his tone more than seeing it with his eyes, "and once you\'re pretty, I\'ll have you in my bed."

Ben\'s mouth felt dry and his head swam with the prospect of being raped, his visions of being toyed with and then killed and discarded were becoming more real by the minute.

"I don\'t want to," he said, risking angering Lazarus.

"You would prefer to live on the street than be in my home?" Lazarus challenged.

"I don\'t want to be raped," he clarified, which brought another laugh from Lazarus, while his fingers left Ben\'s shoulder and throat in order to clutch his hair at the back of his head.

"Oho, I won\'t rape you, Ben.  I\'ll have you willing.  All my boys have come from the street.  I give them a nice place to live, to eat and not be hungry, to sleep and not be cold.  They do whatever they can to thank me.  They love me, for changing their lives for the better."

Ben said nothing, though he suspected Lazarus paused in order for him to.  When the silence continued, so did Lazarus.

"Don\'t you want to be off the streets, boy?  Somewhere warm, happy and loving?  You\'ve been dealt a rough hand, and you\'ve done well to survive so far.  I\'m impressed by you, by your honesty, by your cleverness.  Don\'t you deserve a chance for something better?  You saw those two boys with me, yes?"  Lazarus waited for a nod from Ben and got one, though slight.  "They were just like you, on the street, too proud to whore until they had to, to survive.  I took them away from that, gave them a place to stay in my house, now they\'re happy, with full bellies, warmth, love and laughter around them.  Tell me you don\'t want that."

"I..." Ben began, but he couldn\'t say it.  He wanted it, oh yes, he did, and the silvery tongued Lazarus knew it.  "I don\'t want to sell myself to get it," he whispered.

"You won\'t have to, to get it.  You\'ll climb into my bed for no reason other than wanting to," Lazarus promised.  "In gratitude."

Ben said nothing, and they stared at each other until the clip clop of horses distracted both of them, and a coach pulled up directly at the mouth of the alley.  He was allowed to look at it, and as he watched, the door swung open and the other man - Lazarus\' friend - peered out, extending an arm that would\'ve been beckoning, except he was holding out an apple for the taking.  An apple!  In winter.  Ben\'s stomach growled again as he thought about biting into the delicious red skin of it.

"There\'s more than apples at my home," Lazarus whispered into his ear, now releasing his hair and stroking his nape in a way that brought a pleasant shiver along Ben\'s spine in spite of his not wishing to be seduced.  "Food, and a bed just for you in a room just for you," he said, his cool breath at Ben\'s ear.  "How could it be worse than what you have now?" he challenged.

There was a risk, believing what Lazarus said, but he\'d seen those two nicely dressed boys, and wanted to have what they had, wanted to sleep in his own bed, to take a bath, and mostly, to take that apple and whatever else there was to eat.

"Okay," he agreed, and Lazarus put an arm around his shoulders in order to lead him to the carriage, where he took the apple meekly but ate it without delicacy once he was inside.

*

THE CARRIAGE RIDE WAS AN hour into the ride, with Ben tucked against Lazarus\' side, and the man called Rigby directly in front of him, watching him with predatory eyes.  Ben\'s own gaze would only meet Rigby\'s shining emerald ones for a moment before sidling away to look at the two boys seated beside one another, who occassionally looked at him, but more often looked out the window or whispered to each other and giggled.

"Boys," Lazarus said suddenly, making Ben jump beside him.  The two youths across from Lazarus stared at their master while he spoke his order.  "Play with each other."

At first Ben thought it was a kind of social request, for them to include him in their conversation, but when they grinned at Lazarus like he\'d just complimented them, they began nuzzling and kissing one another in an intimate way.  Ben stared at them with horrified surprise for a long moment before they began getting a little too heated and he broke his gaze from them, looking down at his hands in his lap, wringing each other.

"Ben," Lazarus was in his ear again, with his insistent whisper.  "Enjoy the show, love."

He shook his head lightly, so not to bump the blonde near him.

"Are you embarrassed?" Lazarus asked, a little louder and in a manner that made Ben feel worse than ever.  He was already blushing from the early display, he didn\'t dare look up and see what stage the boys were at because of how they were moaning and sighing (though they\'d stopped temporarily and he guessed they might be looking at him).

"Yes," Ben whispered, hoping the admission would make Lazarus order them to stop.

"Why?" Lazarus goaded him, and soon those soft moans began again, and Ben glanced up just enough to see one of them had a hand down the other\'s pants, massaging what lay in there.  He quickly looked down again, more embarrassed than aroused by the display (but there was a kind of sick interest to it as well, that he wanted to shy away from).  He could only shrug.  "Is that why you don\'t sell yourself?" Lazarus continued, wanting to find out what was bothering Ben so much.  "Because you lack experience?"

It wasn\'t the only reason, but it was good enough for Ben to nod slightly.  The man across him in the carriage - Rigby - expelled a short huff of air, like he was caught between scoffing and surprise.

"Are you a virgin, Ben?" Lazarus all but squealed.  Ben\'s cheeks grew redder, and he turned his face away, not wanted to answer, but Lazarus only asked the question again, getting more graphic with each one.  "Haven\'t you let anyone touch you?  Not been inside you?  Haven\'t used your tongue on a gentleman\'s prong nor bent over to be prodded with it?"

"No!" he said, horrified by the descriptions Lazarus was coming up with.

"What about being kissed?  Ever been kissed?" the blonde asked.  Ben\'s gaze looked up to find Rigby\'s glittering gaze on him before he looked down again.  No help there.

"No," he whispered.

The boys giggled but Lazarus rounded on them to shut up, which earned a startled look from everyone in the cab.

"This boy is pure, our Ben," he said, pulling Ben closer to him with his arm about his shoulders.  "Makes him a sweet prize," he said, implying that the boys opposite weren\'t so.  It killed their mood enough to stop what they were doing, Ben realised, and knew that he hadn\'t been endeared to them thanks to this declaration their master (and now his master, he supposed) had made.

[Trillian]

THE CARRIAGE CAME TO A stop twenty minutes after Lazarus declared Ben a prize. The boy closest to the door was the one to open it, and his playmate scrambled out afterward. As Rigby shuffled to the opening, Lazarus stopped him with a hand upon his knee, his other hand still settled on Ben\'s opposite shoulder, keeping him close. Rigby looked up questioningly at Lazarus.
 
"Feed him, bathe him, clothe him, bring him to me in that order. Make sure nobody gets their hands on him to taint him. I want him untouched."
 
Ben blushed again, knowing Lazarus was expecting some kind of sexual gratification from Ben and that he still wasn\'t willing to do it.
 
He didn\'t hear a response from Rigby, but when the other man stepped out of the cab, Lazarus followed next, finally taking his possessive hold away while he stepped out after him. He looked up to see Lazarus standing at the doorway, looking in, and shuffled on the bench seat across to him before getting up (having to bend over in the confines of the carriage cab) and then step out after Lazarus moved aside.
 
He hadn\'t been looking out the window while they travelled once he\'d seen trees and more trees, but now, with the sound of gushing water in his ears - the sound of rain but not - he looked first towards the source of it, seeing a very large, circular fountain which the driveway had come up to and around. Around the fountain where flowering bushes neatly trimmed, and in the centre itself was a giant stone fish that looked like it was jumping straight up into the air (its tail curved and therefore held at the base this way), whose mouth the water was expelling out of. After looking at the fountain for a moment and hearing running footsteps moving away from him, he turned to track where the other two boys were headed.
 
The building was huge and grand. He looked up and up and up until he saw the top; five impressive floors with uniform square windows all the way across. There was a main block and then two slightly smaller wings which reached four floors but stretched out so far that Ben had trouble imagining where the building ended.
 
"You live here?" he asked, unable to hold the question back as Lazarus\' cool hand claimed his own in order to lead him to the building - which wasn\'t a castle, but was no less impressive because of it.
 
"Yes, I do. So do you, now," Lazarus said with a smile. Behind them the driver of the carriage moved off, though he didn\'t leave the grounds. Rather he headed down a gravel strip that led to the back of the house where there were stables some distance away, and a carriage house beside it. Ben hadn\'t seen the driver of the carriage, but suspected he wouldn\'t have been much older than Rigby. He would later find out the driver was a youth only a couple of years older than himself.
 
They moved up the front stairs and into the house through the large double doors, into a foyer whose square marble floor was patterned into a complex eight pointed star shape, the kind of shape that made Ben think of maps and compasses inside shop windows he\'d peered into. Behind them the doors were closed, and his hand was released in order for Lazarus to turn and look behind himself. Ben followed suit, watching Rigby slide an impossibly large plank of wood into place behind the doors, effectively locking them. He felt claustrophobic, all of a sudden, seeing his only known exit blocked so easily.
 
"The last meal\'s already been served," Rigby said to him as he approached them both, and it was the first time Ben had heard his voice, which was a little deeper and a little rougher than Lazarus\' velvet tones. "The kitchen\'s being cleaned, but we can still get you something."
 
Ben\'s stomach growled as if in approval, and Ben lay a hand across it, willing it to silence.
 
"Thank you," he said, his voice echoing a little in the giant foyer.
 
"I\'ll be upstairs," Lazarus declared and Rigby nodded at him. Ben received one last touch - a squeeze on the shoulder from Lazarus - before the blonde disappeared. Ben glanced at him but Rigby had won his attention now, with the promise of food.
 
He had to follow Rigby, who simply walked ahead of him and expected him to trail after. They moved into the left wing, and into a wide corridor with lots of closed doors. At the end of the corridor was the kitchen, with such heavenly smells still lingering from the meals prepared earlier that evening that Ben\'s stomach grumbled loudly at him again. Rigby must\'ve heard for he glanced back with a wry smile, and when they entered the kitchens Ben saw five more boys scrubbing the place clean. When they looked up at him they paused in their work, unsmiling, before getting back to it without comment. Ben turned to watch Rigby, who moved around the kitchen collecting items until he had what he was after, shoving ham and cheese into a large bread roll cut open before cramming it shut and handing it over to Ben, who took it in both hands and was about to shove a corner into his mouth before he was stopped by Rigby with a hand on his arm. He was as cold as Lazarus, Ben\'s clothes unable to stop the icyness of Rigby\'s fingers pressed against him.
 
"At the table," he ordered, and Ben followed him to another room behind the kitchens where there was a roughly cut table and benches near it to sit on. Ben hopped onto a bench and ate at the table eagerly, cramming the roll into his mouth and eating like someone was about to take his food away from him, like they had in the alley. At the end of it, he licked his fingers and then burped, looking at Rigby apologetically.
 
He was then led to the opposite wing, where another corridor, this time with a mixture of closed and open doors (and when Ben peered inside he saw a bathing station in each one), before Rigby turned into one of the open doored rooms seemingly at random. The door was shut behind him and so he stood watching while Rigby turned a strange contraption that lowered a bucket into a hole in the floor by rope. Ben could feel a muggy warmth in this room, which he welcomed, most of the heat coming from the hole in the floor that the bucket had gone down. After half a minute, Rigby pulled up the bucket and emptied the water contents into the tub. He did this about twenty times, until the tub was filled halfway and he ordered Ben to strip and get in.
 
Ben hesitated, not wanting to get naked in front of a stranger, and without immediate movement, Rigby turned to glare at him.
 
"Hurry up and get undressed. You don\'t have anything I haven\'t seen before, or better examples of," he snapped irritably. Not wanting to anger Rigby further, he stripped out of his clothes (which were mostly rags) and folded them as neatly as possible to place them on the floor in one corner, glad that Rigby had his back to him because he was waiting for the bucket to return once more.
 
Ben stepped into the steaming bath tentatively, for the water was a lot hotter than expected. It took him faster than he\'d wanted to take getting in though, wincing as he sat into the water and hugged his knees, wanting to cover himself as much as he was able. A fresh bucket of hot water was poured onto his back and he yelped before looking up at Rigby\'s scornful face. There was a pump and another bucket in a different corner of the small room, and that was where Rigby headed next, pumping several times before water gushed out. It was dumped into the bath, and Ben found the temperature cooling a little. He turned grateful eyes onto Rigby, who was looking at him with obvious distaste and so he lowered them.
 
"Use this," he was ordered, and Ben looked up in time to be hit in the face with a wash cloth. He was handed soap next, and Rigby grabbed the stool that was for a second party to wash the back of the bather, but he did no such thing, pulling it around so that he was facing Ben, with his back leaning against the wall, his arms folded against his chest as he watched Ben\'s discomfort with amusement.
 
Ben set about getting himself clean, and by the time he\'d finished everything, Rigby mumbled that he would wash Ben\'s back, and so he leant forward which he was scrubbed.
 
"Get out, use that to dry yourself," Rigby gestured at a hanging towel, "and stay here."
 
He left Ben in the bathing room alone, wondering what he should do about the water in the tub, but followed Rigby\'s orders, towelling himself as dry as possible. He would\'ve put on his clothes but figured Rigby had gone to get some fresh ones for him, remembering what Lazarus had asked. After he was dressed he was going to be taken to the blonde, and he waited with trepidation, wrapping the towel around his body to cover himself as he anticipated Rigby\'s return.
 
A fair amount of time passed before Rigby returned with a handful of clothes, placing them on the stool so they wouldn\'t get dirty from the floor, and handing items to Ben one at a time so he could get dressed in them while Rigby watched. He glanced a few times, trying to cover himself even as he dressed, which caused the other to snort.
 
"You\'re too skinny for me," he said unkindly. "And you have the lips of a girl," he commented, as though such a thing was unwanted. Ben pressed his lips together, knowing it was likely their naturally pink colour that had prompted Rigby\'s distaste. He was more comfortable with Rigby\'s obvious dislike for him than Lazarus\' obvious desire.
 
Once he was dressed, Rigby took the lead again and Ben followed, going upstairs many times until they were on the topmost floor, passing other boys on the way who gave Ben curious stares until they reached a door that was heavy and ornate. He figured Lazarus was behind this door, and was proved right when Rigby knocked and the blonde\'s smooth tones bid him to enter.
 
Rigby opened the door and gestured for Ben to go in first. He did so, and Rigby shut the door behind him without entering the room himself. Ben expected to hear a lock, but there was no other sound than footsteps walking away.
 
The first thing he felt was the temperature of the room; warm and cosy from the fireplace on the far wall, stoked and roaring. A giant bed that looking like it could sleep ten took up most of the room in front of Ben, but Lazarus wasn\'t on it. He was on Ben\'s right, in an armchair that was arranged with another armchair and settee - a sitting area.
 
"Come, sit," he said, patting his lap. Ben approached, but chose the settee opposite Lazarus instead, earning himself a leering grin. "Have you seen yourself in a mirror?" he asked, and as Ben shook his head Lazarus pulled a slight face. "Shame, you\'re as pretty as I thought you might be."
 
Ben said nothing, unsure of himself in this place and feeling small in this giant room, with a very tall, very confident blonde man opposite him.
 
"You don\'t know what I am, I bet," Lazarus stated, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees and his fingers linked around each other while Ben was scrutinised by the stone-grey stare the blonde had.
 
"A Lord?" Ben guessed, figuring he had to be of some nobility to be able to afford a place like this. Lazarus laughed good naturedly and patted his lap again.
 
"In a manner of speaking, but I\'m so much more than that. Sit upon my knee and I shall demonstrate."
 
Ben felt his mouth go dry and his stomach lurched.
 
"I thought you wouldn\'t make me do anything I didn\'t want to do."
 
"Relax. I\'m not going to finger you or stick my cock in your hole, little boy," Lazarus said, then laughed again at Ben\'s mortified expression. "I just want you to sit on my lap so I can press my lips against your neck."
 
Ben shook his head. No. He\'d been told Lazarus would have him willing, and this was a test of that. Was he allowed to refuse?
 
Lazarus\' eyes narrowed and he got up from his chair in a way that had Ben expecting he would be grabbed by the scruff of the neck and forced into whatever position Lazarus wanted. Except Lazarus stalked past him and went to his door, opening it to speak to whoever it was waiting outside - Rigby? - and then returned to the armchair opposite Ben, settling himself upon it.
 
"I shall have to demonstrate another way," Lazarus told Ben, like he wasn\'t impressed with being forced to do so. "What do you think of my home?" he asked, though Ben was waiting for a demonstration.
 
"Um. It\'s beautiful."
 
"Thought you\'d like it," Lazarus smirked, glad for the compliment. "And what do you suppose all the boys do for me?"
 
Ben blushed and looked at his hands while Lazarus laughed at him.
 
"Such dirty thoughts for a pure boy," he admonished, and when Ben looked up, Lazarus answered his own question. "They take care of this place. Each one of them has a job to do, to earn their place here. You\'ll have some work to do as well. Likely in the gardens, they always need constant attention," he said. "And of course, they help me to survive."
 
The way Lazarus said this last had Ben cocking his head sideways, unsure of what kind of survival Lazarus was talking about. He half expected to be told about Lazarus\' sexual appetite and how the boys kept him fed. He wasn\'t so far wrong, but the devil was in the details.
 
Before Lazarus could explain further, a knock at the door interrupted them, and Lazarus bid that person to enter. A young man, older than Ben by four or five years, entered the room and went to Lazarus\' side immediately.
 
"Ben, this is Jonas. Say hello."
 
Ben said hello and Jonas turned to look at him. He was the first person to offer Ben a smile while he greeted him back. Ben decided that Jonas could be nice enough to be a friend.
 
"Sit on my lap, Jonas," Lazarus said softly, and his wishes were complied with as Jonas got himself comfortable with a bit of shifting. He wasn\'t as tall as Lazarus, but taller than Ben, and as he leant back against Lazarus, he turned his head away so that his neck was available.
 
Ben\'s eyebrows raised a little, considering the initial request made of him. Apparently Lazarus liked kissing necks. If that was all he wanted from Ben, he supposed he might one day come around to offering, except what happened next had him second guessing himself.
 
Lazarus nuzzled Jonas\' neck and licked with a curling tongue with his gaze finding Ben to see if he was watching.  Ben was, though uncomfortably, he figured if Lazarus wanted him to watch him kiss someone\'s neck, then he could do that much.  Jonas was smiling, Ben noticed, and he figured it must feel nice, to be kissed - though the licking part seemed a bit wet rather than erotic.  Lazarus pressed lips to Jonas\' neck, as promised, and then, so Ben could clearly see, bit down.
 
Jonas jerked a little but wasn\'t held in place strictly by Lazarus, who only had a loose hand across his chest, and the other on the chair arm.  Ben\'s eyes widened as a thin trail of blood leaked down Jonas\' neck (something he would realise later was purposefully shown him, for no such trail needed to give Lazarus away), and Lazarus began to suck and drink, swallowing what was Jonas\' blood out of a wound he\'d created.
 
Ben lifted his legs up off the floor and held himself in a tight ball, much like he had in the bath, retreating as much as he was able without getting up and running away.  While he watched, he couldn\'t help but notice the way Jonas\' had surrendered to Lazarus, that he was sighing in a way that reminded him of the boys playing in the carriage with one another, that his eyes were closed and his lips were curled in a smile, like he liked it.  Moving his gaze from Jonas\' face to Lazarus, he found himself locked in a stare with the vampire.

[Trillian]

HE HANDLED THE NEWS REMARKEABLY well, once Jonas was released in a happy daze and walked away.  Lazarus talked about the kind of creature he was, and Ben took it all in like a sponge.  It made sense to Ben, suddenly, that Lazarus would surround himself with mortals (though he didn\'t get why everyone had to be male and young, even though he did get it, he refused to acknowledge that he was now part of it).
 
Lazarus dismissed him once he finished listening and asking questions, giving Ben the answers he sought until there were none left.  He left the room to find a boy around his age standing in the corridor outside Lazarus\' room, as though waiting for him.  The boy didn\'t introduce himself, but called Ben by name which meant he\'d been told about him.  Ben was led downstairs and down one corridor before facing a door at the end of it, told that this was now his room before the other boy left.
 
Ben entered the room, expecting only a bed (and that would be luxury enough) but found a bed, a desk and chair facing the window, a dressing table and mirror, and a hanging rack in the corner with some empty hangers and some full ones with more outfits for him.  Removing his clothes to his underwear and hanging them, he climbed into bed beneath the sheet and couldn\'t believe his luck.

 
THE NEXT DAY HE WAS awoken at ten of the clock by Jonas knocking on his door and urging him to hurry.  Ben dressed quickly in order to not keep him waiting.  Upon opening the door, Jonas explained about the daily running of the place, and said he could either eat now at the late breakfast or wait an hour for the early lunch.  Ben didn\'t want to wait and so Jonas took him to the dining room, where about a dozen boys were seated at a long table, eating.  Ben was instructed to find an empty place to sit, and once he was there, not five minutes later a youth a little younger than him placed a plate of sausage, tomato and scrambled eggs before him.  Ben ate without pause, shoving the food into his mouth and hovering over his plate like someone might take it from him.  He got a few looks, but none that seemed taken aback by his behaviour - like they already knew why he was behaving in such a way.

He was taken outside after breakfast by Jonas, who handed him over to a young man named Shane, who announced himself the head gardener and then explained a whirlwind of details to Ben who couldn\'t keep up with them all.  In the end, Shane accused him of being not very bright and gave him a pair of gloves and overalls which were to be worn over his clothing, and told him to weed the long line of vegetables.  Ben changed supervisory hands yet again to someone a couple of years older than him - Avon - who was the second person to smile at Ben in greeting (and got a smile back), before taking him under his wing well enough to patiently show Ben what to remove and what to leave behind.  They worked until the sun went down, and Ben was aching all over from it - mostly his knees and his back, and in spite of the gloves, his hands had developed a couple of blisters.  He\'d come back empty handed, but was walking among a group of youths carrying what they\'d picked during the day in baskets; carrots, leeks, radishes, potatoes and other vegetables that Ben couldn\'t identify.

He followed Avon to the main bathing area, bypassing all of the showers and finding himself on the edge of a shallow, very large square pool of water.  There were already naked boys sitting around the edge of it, either soaping themselves or each other.  Ben didn\'t look too closely at them, but followed Avon\'s suit of undressing in a doorless cubicle and then moving to the edge of the bathing pool, climbing into the lukewarm water which Avon explained to him was heated from the fires in the basement, and they were operated mostly by the older boys and that it wasn\'t a job Ben would want to end up getting.  Normally Ben would be too shy to openly bathe in front of others, but most of the other boys were caught up with what they were doing, and he felt like he stood out less by conforming (plus Avon urging him along helped too).  He bathed himself, was handed a towel near the edge of the bath by Avon who knew the new boy was shy and had compassion for him, and towelled himself dry in the cubicle, intending to put his clothes back on but they\'d disappeared.  Avon laughed and told him they\'d already been picked up to be laundered, and they would return to their rooms for some fresh clothes before going to have supper.

After eating at the table with Avon at his side (and considering the other boy a friend), he felt full, warm and very content, pleased with his lot and happy that he\'d been brought here, where everything ran smoothly and he wasn\'t accosted anywhere near as much as he\'d been on the streets, nor as it was impressed to him by Lazarus\' order to Rigby that the other boys weren\'t allowed to touch him.  Nobody had tried, and he didn\'t think they would either (though it had only been one day, and he did recall some looks from others that had made him uncomfortable).

Immediately after shoving the last morsel of food into his mouth, Rigby\'s hand landed on his shoulder and he looked up at him in surprise, still chewing on the piece of bread he\'d mopped his gravy-covered plate with.

"Lazarus wants you with him," Rigby said gruffly, earning more than a few stares but none of them surprised.  Avon made a comment Ben couldn\'t miss while he moved out of his chair to join Rigby.

"Nice to be the new boy," he said, and Ben spared him a backward glance before Rigby\'s hand found his shoulder again and steered him away from the dinner table and up the many flights of stairs again before they were both looking at Lazarus\' ornate door.

"In you go," Rigby said, shoving him roughly towards it.  Ben opened it without knocking and slipped inside, pressing his back to it once it was closed and immediately turning his head toward the sitting chairs, guessing that Lazarus was there again.  He was right, and Lazarus tapped his lap in order for Ben to seat himself upon it.  He approached and chose the settee opposite again, causing Lazarus to sigh obviously.

"I give you clothes, shelter and food, and you can\'t even sit on my lap?" Lazarus challenged.

"I don\'t feel..." he shrugged, not knowing the best word to describe how he felt about doing such a thing.

"Grateful?" Lazarus supplied, causing Ben to frown and look down at his hands in his lap.  "Thankful?"

"Comfortable," he mumbled.

"Comfortable enough to share your nudity with the other boys," Lazarus said, and Ben looked up sharply to see the blonde smirking at him.  "How come they get to see you and I don\'t?"

"Because they weren\'t... looking at me," Ben said haltingly, feeling like this was a ridiculous reason but it was the real reason all the same.  Lazarus stared at him long enough that he felt compelled to add more.  "They were just washing themselves.  They weren\'t paying attention to anyone else."

"Oh, you were looked at, Ben," Lazarus confirmed.  "Everyone new to my house is looked at, covetted, desired.  Some boys have bets with each other to see who can get the new boy on his knees first, or on all fours," he added, watching Ben blush.  "Rigby\'s ordered them not to approach you," he explained, "but that doesn\'t mean that they don\'t want to have a go at you."

Ben was silent, and Lazarus tapped his thighs again, gently.

"I won\'t touch you if you don\'t wish it," he said softly, "but you know what I am, that I need blood to survive, and I\'ve done enough for you that you should want to help me out."

Ben chewed on his lower lip, thinking about it.  Lazarus seemed to know that he was considering it, and pushed a little further.

"You saw Jonas, how calm he was, how he liked it," he crooned, spreading his legs a little further apart in order to slouch on the chair.  "It\'s just a little bit of pain, at the start, when I penetrate," Lazarus said, grinning at the innuendo which wasn\'t lost on Ben despite his virginity, "then it feels so very, very good."

"But it looks intimate," Ben argued suddenly, not wanting to say no but at the same time not wanting to say yes.

Lazarus stared at him for a long moment.

"Would it be better if I didn\'t make you sit on my lap?" he offered.

Ben thought it over, and took long enough for Lazarus to grow impatient and to stand up from his chair, approaching the settee and sitting beside Ben on his right, placing an arm around his shoulders.  This was something Ben had experienced throughout the carriage ride, so it wasn\'t so imposing.  Without asking again, Lazarus leant over to him, scooching forward on the cushion so that he\'d be at a better height to get to Ben\'s neck.  He began to nuzzle him, and at first Ben made it difficult by keeping his head down but eventually turned his face away from Lazarus\' attentions, knowing that gave the vampire easier access to his neck.  His heart was beating rapidly in his chest with a mixture of fear and excitement at Lazarus\' attentions.  The nuzzling, kissing and licking felt a lot better than he\'d expected, and Lazarus had him well in place with his elbow bent at Ben\'s opposite shoulder and his hand clutching Ben\'s left arm, while his right hand was positioned on Ben\'s left knee.  Ben thought maybe he could give in to the drinking, but when Lazarus started scraping teeth against his skin in a buildup of the nuzzling, Ben began to squirm and fight against him, panting no.

"No?" Lazarus asked imperiously, moving back and away so he could stare at Ben, his hold not loosening even as the teen turned his head to look at him.

"I\'m sorry, I... I can\'t, I\'m not..." he was shaking his head, feeling a mixture of right and wrong from being touched and handled this way.  It felt nice, oh yes it did, but what was the difference between paying for this place with his blood than with his body?  He was still selling himself, wasn\'t he?

Lazarus glared at him for a moment before it softened and he released Ben, sitting back.

"Go then, go do whatever you wish, and tell the first boy you see that I want him to come to my room, so I can take my desire for you out on him," he said, causing Ben\'s eyes to go wide but at the same time he nodded, wanting to escape Lazarus\' attentions.

The first boy he saw ended up being Avon, who was waiting for him at the end of the first set of stairs Ben scurried down.  It took a little effort on Avon\'s side to get the information out of Ben - who hadn\'t wanted to send his new friend to Lazarus who seemed a sexual predator - but Avon was keen enough to go, jokingly accusing Ben\'s shyness of interfering with his ability to satisfy Lazarus in full, not knowing that Ben had refused him outright.

*

LAZARUS SENT AVON TO FETCH Rigby once he was done with the boy, and was bitterly pleased by the boy\'s mincing walk out of his chambers.  He\'d not bothered to drink from Avon, using his mouth and his backside instead until he\'d had his fill by filling the boy\'s hole with his seed.  He\'d lasted over an hour, ignoring the boy\'s own orgasm at the halfway mark until he\'d had his lot.  It wasn\'t so much pleasure for Avon in the second half, but when Lazarus asked him at the end if it was good, the boy had supplied the right answer.

Now, with Rigby before him, his second in charge and his only childe in the household, he recounted that Ben had refused him his blood (earning a dissatisfied grunt from Rigby) and that the shy young virgin boy should be given a position where natural sexual curiosity could take its course.  To be a bathing attendant; taking away clothes to launder, fetching dry towels to hand out, sitting and watching over the bathing pool until he was needed to perform those tasks (a cushy job assigned to those boys who usually pleased Lazarus or Rigby the most), meant that Ben would be subject to a lot of playtime activity among the boys, who often took advantage of group nudity and bathing in order to satisfy their sexual urges.  They wouldn\'t care if Ben was watching them or not, he knew, and so his pure young charge could educate himself and hopefully get himself worked up with enough knowledge and fantasy that he would succumb to Lazarus\' advances.  Rigby complimented him on a good plan, and promised to put it under immediate effect.  Ben would soon find himself promoted to a better position than gardening - which was often a sought after job in the first place.

[Trillian]

IT WAS THE SECOND DAY of his new task when Ben first found himself the observer to another bout of \'play\' between a couple of boys in the bathing room.  The nights before he\'d gone to Lazarus\' room, fetched by Rigby, refusing Lazarus his blood both times and not allowing the vampire to do much more than sit beside him with an arm around him while they argued the point.  Ben knew Lazarus was trying to wear him down, and he supposed he might give in at one point, but right now he didn\'t want to.

He recognised one boy from the carriage ride of the night he\'d arrived at the manor, but the other boy wasn\'t anyone he was familiar with.  Older, possibly nineteen or twenty, and with his back to the edge of the bath (and profile to Ben), giving Ben a perfectly clear view of what was going on.

At first he looked away, knowing that their hands were busy with each other underneath the water, and only glanced back every now and then to see if they would

move onto something more intimate

stop in order to continue their playtime in a more private place, like in one of their rooms.  He\'d heard nightly activity through the walls of his room while trying to sleep; grunts, groans, moans, cries and the sound of slapping or bedsprings creaking, or other furniture thumping in time with their sex.  He tried not to imagine what they were up to except images would come to him unbidden, and he would hold his pillow against his head to block the sounds out.

Now he couldn\'t block out the sounds, though the boys were fortunately doing their best to stay quiet.  The bathing room was tiled and echoed, and the two of them and Ben (plus the other bathing attendant on the opposite diagonal corner of the room) were the only ones inside the room.

He looked at them to see carriage boy climbing onto his partner\'s lap, facing him.  His knees were bent so that his feet were flat against the bath wall, and his friend was holding him by the shoulders.  Ben looked away as he listened to the sound of them starting the act, the soft splash of water accentuating their slow rocking.  He looked back and watched the see-sawing motion they\'d set up, the boy on top controlling the rocking and gradually getting quicker.  Ben looked away and stared at the wall for a long moment until a different kind of splashing and murmuring took his attention again.  They were changing positions, so that the boy from the carriage was standing in the thigh-deep water and bent over with his hands on the floor above the bath.  His partner was angling himself to go back inside, and Ben - though shocked - couldn\'t help but look at the erect pole as it was aimed into and then shoved inside the other boy, causing him to stifle a cry.  Ben turned his head but peeked at them now that his view wasn\'t blocked by water and watched as they fucked to a frenzied pace where the older boy grimaced and shivered.  It was over and Ben dropped his gaze, feeling like a pervert for watching them and not looking their way again, forcing the other attendant to walk all the way over to Ben\'s side in order to hand them both towels after they bathed again and hopped out some minutes later.

He didn\'t give into Lazarus that night to drink from him, but the memory of the boys in the bathing room gave him enough to crave and then use his own hand in bed.

It only took a week before he noticed boys were behaving differently around him, and after seeking Avon out at mealtime he received nothing but spit on his shirt for his trouble.  Confused by his friend\'s behaviour (and figuring Avon didn\'t want to be his friend anymore but not knowing why), he found himself isolated very quickly.  It didn\'t stop the boys from fucking in the bath in front of him though, but it did add an extra element of them watching him while they did it, making him uncomfortable enough to look away more often than not, causing them to jeer at him.

The worst came into the second week, when Lazarus would only call him into his room and keep him there for five minutes to find out if Ben would or wouldn\'t let him feed from him and sending him away when he continued to refuse.

As part of his duties, he had to mop up the bathing room\'s floor after supper, after the bathing room was off limits because boys had to retire to their rooms.  The other bathing attendant kept looking at him more than he was mopping, and Ben ignored those looks as best he could.  It was probably his concentrated focus on what his mop was doing, swishing to and fro, that he didn\'t notice several boys sneaking up on him.  He was grabbed by steely hands from behind - one over his mouth and the other around his chest, lifted up enough to be dragged against one wall (with his assailant behind him and the mop falling out of surprised fingers).  He cried out though it was muffled, and wide eyes saw four boys (he recognised Avon and one of the carriage boys - the one he\'d perved on, plus two others whose faces he knew but not their names or where he recognised them from) circling around him.

"Tease!" one of them spat out at him.

"You think you\'re too good for him," Avon accused, shoving Ben in the chest, where he couldn\'t move because someone was holding him in place.  He grunted with the force of it and tried to break the hold, but it was like trying to break iron.  The person holding him was taller than him, and very strong.

"Saving yourself for someone better?" the carriage boy sneered.  "I saw you watching me in the pool, you horny freak.  Good enough to watch but not good enough to share!"

Ben kicked out feebly and received a punch in his stomach for doing so, winding him.  The other bath attendant soon joined the four boys and then there were five of them jeering at him.  Their remarks were all along the same lines, and they began talking on top of one another so that it was just noise - scornful noise.

"We\'ll have you on your knees soon enough, boy."

The voice in his ear was familiar, and with a sinking heart he knew who\'d orchestrated this.  Rigby.  The cold hand clamped over his mouth couldn\'t belong to anybody else.

"Don\'t make a sound or it\'ll only be worse for you," Rigby threatened, and then released Ben\'s mouth and chest so he could push down on both his shoulders, forcing him to his knees as promised.  He landed hard and cried out, only to have a hand tangle in his hair and pull him back so he was leaning on an angle with his face up to see the boys that were taunting him.

As though this was some kind of signal, all five boys shoved their pants down and freed themselves.  He saw that three of them were already hard, obviously excited by Ben\'s humiliation - or perhaps the thought of what was to come next.

"We can\'t hurt you, Mr Purity," Rigby sneered, looking down at him from above so Ben could see the hate in his face.  "But we can still teach you a lesson.  Go on," he prompted, and Ben looked across at the boys who were masturbating in front of him.  He closed his eyes for a moment until his face was slapped and his eyes sprang open, tears pricking them.  "Watch it happen, and accept it.  There\'s worse things that can happen than the loss of your virginity, boy."

Ben let out a shaking breath, and that was when the first spatter of semen hit his face.  He blinked hurriedly, though none had got in his eyes.  He could feel it across his cheek, chin and nose.  The boys cheered and a couple of minutes later he got a second spraying - much more powerful than the first, seeming to cover most of his face in three spurts.  He could taste it on his lips, smell the acidic scent of it as it began to slide down his skin.  Another spray soon after, on his cheek and ear.  The fourth and fifth arrived almost together, another gushing in his hair and face.  One of the boys reached forward to wipe it over his face like it was soap, and when he opened his eyes he saw Avon showing him his semen covered hands to prove that it was him that did it.  Ben hadn\'t started crying until he saw the boy he\'d thought could be a friend do that, and they jeered at him until Rigby shoved him forward so that he landed on the floor.  He half turned until he saw Rigby standing over him and stayed on the floor, not wanting any more on his face.  The vampire, however, had a different idea, and he hawked up spit until he could release a huge wet glob onto the back of his head. Humiliated and disgraced, he remained on the floor until he heard them all walk away, laughing with each other about it.

Rigby pulled him to his feet once they were gone, surprising him that he\'d remained.

"Lazarus doesn\'t want to see you tonight," he told him with distaste.  "Tomorrow night he will, and you\'re going to do whatever the hell he wants.  Understand?" Rigby hissed, shaking him.

"Yes!" Ben agreed, if only to end this drama.  Rigby marched him to a private bathing room, drawing a bath for him again but this time with cold water alone from the pump.  He ordered Ben to strip, and Ben obediently complied, stepping into the tub and sitting in it so that Rigby could soap him up.  He wasn\'t given him it himself until only his genitals were left, and Rigby tossed the soap into the bath, ordering him to wash the rest of himself while he watched over him.  Ben did so as efficiently as possible, tears still running down his cheeks but no longer sniffing or sobbing like he had in the main bathing room.  Instead of being handed clothes, Ben was handed a towel until he was dry, and then Rigby tossed it aside and grabbed Ben by the wrist, pulling him out of the room and taking him upstairs, naked, to his room, past surprised or laughing boys until they reached his room and he was shoved into it, falling on the carpeted floor with the force of it (and only just not hitting the wall on the other side) before Rigby slammed the door, shutting him in.

Despite the bath, he still felt dirty, and sobbed on the floor until he could get himself under control enough to put on some shorts and climb into bed, burying his face into his pillow to try and stop the sound of his cries until he was so exhausted he slept, but fitfully.

[Trillian]

The next day was difficult, but Ben managed to get through it.  He didn\'t make eye contact with anyone, though made sure to perform all his tasks so he couldn\'t be complained about.  He felt like more boys were looking at him than usual, and it felt to him like they all knew about what had happened.  He ate supper during the last served meal, for there were always fewer boys because the first two served suppers were piping hot, while the last was kept warm in an oven and were usually whatever hadn\'t been finished during the previous two meals.

"He wants to see you," Rigby said from behind his chair and he jumped.  There was a potato left on his plate but he left it in order to not keep Lazarus waiting.  He followed Rigby upstairs to Lazarus\' room and knocked on the door as soon as they reached it.  When told to come in, he slipped into the room and looked to the right to check if Lazarus was on the armchair.  He was.

Ben went to him without Lazarus having time to pat his thighs, and sat upon his lap.  Lazarus shifted and held him in place, urging Ben to get comfortable until finally they both were.  Ben expected him to merely start the process towards biting his neck, and so turned his face away so that Lazarus could have easy access to it, but it seemed the blonde was more interested in talking.

"Why the sudden change of heart?" he asked, stroking Ben\'s inner thigh.

"Because I\'m thankful.  I want to show my gratitude for what you\'ve done for me."

Lazarus didn\'t say anything for a long moment, though he continued stroking Ben\'s inner thigh in a way that was pleasant, but Ben wasn\'t getting aroused.

"Did something happen?" Lazarus asked, knowing there was no other reason for Ben to change his mind so suddenly except some kind of incident.

"You didn\'t ask for me the night before."

"No, I didn\'t.  Did that bother you?"

Now it was Ben\'s turn to remain silent for a while as he struggled to come up with an answer.

"Yes," he said, lying.  "I want you to drink from me, now."

There was a pause, and then Lazarus moved while also gently prodding Ben off his lap.  Ben complied, wondering what was wrong, and looked back at Lazarus once he was standing.  The blonde vampire stared at him for a long moment before patting his lap.

"Straddle me, facing forward.  I want to see your face when you lie to me."

Ben blushed, ashamed to have been caught out.  He wondered if Lazarus could see right through him.  He\'d never been a good liar, but he\'d not known he was that bad.  Complying with Lazarus\' wish, he knelt onto the chair, straddling Lazarus either side and getting flashbacks of the two boys in the bathing room.  He shuffled forward, enough for Lazarus to make a purring growling sound, which kept the blush on Ben\'s cheeks reddened.  Lazarus wrapped his arms around him and linked his hands together at the small of Ben\'s back, keeping him in place.

"So what happened to make you change your mind?  See something erotic?"

Ben hesitated, then nodded.  He would let Lazarus think it was the two boys in the bathing room, and not what had happened last night.  He didn\'t want to relive that, or confess that it had happened.  It shamed him.

"What did you see?"

"Two boys in the main bathing room," he said quietly.

"What were they doing?" Lazarus pressed, smiling at Ben, his eyes half-lidded as he gazed at Ben\'s lips adoringly.

"They... had sex," he said, hoping Lazarus wouldn\'t make him describe how.  Lazarus mulled on Ben\'s words for a moment.

"Do you want to have sex now, then?" he asked.

Rigby\'s threat came to the fore in his memory, that Ben would do whatever Lazarus wanted.  He hadn\'t actually asked for it, but had asked what Ben wanted.

"No," he croaked, losing his voice a little so that he had to clear his throat.

Lazarus sighed, disappointed with the answer, and Ben lowered his gaze to look at the space between their chests.

"But you want me to drink from you now," Lazarus confirmed.

"Yes," Ben whispered, then lifted his gaze.

"Why?" Lazarus\' stare narrowed as he watched Ben mull uncomfortably over the answer.

"Because," he said, and Lazarus lifted an eyebrow, waiting for the rest of it.  "Because I don\'t think I\'m too good for you."

The phrase was something that caught Lazarus\' attention.

"Who accused you of that?" he pressed.

"Nobody," Ben said, and lowered his face, but Lazarus pulled his linked hands sharply forward so that Ben\'s groin pressed against the vampire\'s own and his pale blue eyes lifted to meet Lazarus\' own in alarm.

"Look at me when you lie to me," Lazarus ordered, and Ben\'s chin wobbled.

"Sorry," he breathed, fighting the instinct to look down or away.

"Did somebody do something to you?" Lazarus asked, one of his hands unlinking in order to caress Ben\'s back in a way that was soothing rather than sexual.

Ben shook his head but what came out of his mouth was different.

"Yes."

"Did someone touch you?" he prompted.

"No, not really."

"Not really?  What does that mean?" Lazarus was chasing his answers with a harsher tone, wanting to get down to the root of the matter.

"They didn\'t touch me."

They.  Lazarus mulled on that tidbit for a long moment while Ben stared at him, his heart thumping in his chest and his pores emanating fear.

"You\'re mine.  I wanted you to be kept pure for me.  How did they taint you?"

"I\'m sorry," Ben whispered, and his face was held by the chin, Lazarus\' strong fingers holding him in place.

"Stop apologising and spit it out.  What did they do to you?"

"G-grabbed me.  Pushed me onto my knees," he paused, and Lazarus sneered at what might come next.  Ben closed his eyes because he thought he would be blamed for everything, but he said it anyway.  "Touched themselves and sprayed on me," he said, amazed that he could say it without his voice shaking.  Funny how he could sound like it wasn\'t affecting him, yet he was in turmoil inside.  "Spat on me, at the end."

"Spat on you?" Lazarus repeated, scowling.  Ben opened his eyes to see Lazarus looking at him intently.  "So why are you begging me to drink from you?"

"They thought I thought I was too good for you," he admitted.  "But I don\'t think that.  I just... I\'m scared.  I... I\'ll let you bite me, and drink from me."

Lazarus thought it over.  The boys had interfered with his plans to have Ben willing, doing it in a way he hadn\'t wanted.  Still, the results were the same, but he hadn\'t wanted Ben bullied into it.  Fuck, he could\'ve done that himself if he\'d wanted.  He wasn\'t going to turn the offer down, though, not when it was warm and willing and on his lap.

"I\'ll drink from you," Lazarus promised, stroking the youth\'s hair lovingly and liking that Ben didn\'t pull a face or shy from his words, "but I want you to tell me names of the boys that did it."

Now Ben pulled a face, not wanting to get himself in further trouble with the boys he co-existed with but also not wanting to deny Lazarus further, seeing as denying him had led to this.

"I don\'t know all their names," he said.

"But you know some," Lazarus said, tapping Ben\'s nose with his index finger and causing the teen to blink.  "Tell me."

"What\'s going to happen to them?" he asked.

"Never mind what.  Tell me," Lazarus said, growing more insistent.

Ben chewed on his lower lip, but he didn\'t deny Lazarus any further.

"Avon.  One of the boys from the carriage ride, the brunette."

"Luke," Lazarus supplied.  Ben nodded, but it wasn\'t a name he\'d heard.  He\'d only known the carriage boys by sight.  "And?"

Ben shook his head and shrugged, to imply he knew no more names.

"Both boys are followers Ben, there had to be a leader."

"I don\'t know any more."

Lazarus stared at him for a long time, until Ben dropped his gaze, but he wasn\'t about to give up Rigby\'s name.  If there was anyone that could make life very hard for him, it was the other vampire in the household.

"Alright, Ben," Lazarus said, pulling him forward so that Ben was resting against him.  "I\'ll drink now," he warned, and Ben turned his face away so that Lazarus only had to turn his head and he would be at his throat.  The kissing and nuzzling brought sighs from the mortal, and the scraping of teeth had Ben gripping onto Lazarus\' shirt in alarm until Lazarus hushed and stroked his back until he relaxed.  Once Ben was calm, he bit, and after the pain, as promised, came the pleasure.

Lazarus had used Jonas to show Ben initially because Jonas was of the kind that responded with a daze.  There was another common response; that of wantoness.  Ben was of the latter, but he seemed more prone to abandon than Lazarus would\'ve believed from someone without sexual experience.  His sighs and moans were darling, as Lazarus suckled on his neck, and Ben was thrusting forward with his hips in time with the pulling of his blood, hardened by the drinking and not shying away from Lazarus\' own erection that he was rubbing against.  He was a squirming, electrical sex machine that Lazarus dearly wanted to settle upon his rod, to feel those pulsing motions from the inside.  He made do with clutching the boy\'s rear though, driving the motions until he\'d drunk more than he usually did and was forced to close off the wound lest Ben faint off his lap.

He took too much regardless, and Ben was dizzy from the loss.  Standing up and carrying the boy to his bed, he undressed him to nudity, figuring if others had seen him then so should he, without any protest from Ben, and then put him under the covers, stroking his hair until he fell asleep.


HE LEFT THE ROOM SHORTLY after, seeking out Rigby\'s in his room and storming in to find the other vampire being serviced by Avon\'s mouth.  The boy was pulled off and tossed out without ceremony, and Rigby pulled up his pants from his ankles in startlement.

"I told you to keep him pure!" Lazarus snarled, rounding on the young man he\'d made his fledgling twenty years ago because of his loyalty.  "And then I find out he\'s had other boys cum on his face?"

Rigby blinked slowly while his thoughts whirled.  The accusation sounded more like Lazarus knew of the boys and not of his own participation in it.

"I\'ll be sure to punish them.  Who were they?" he asked, showing concern.

"One of them was just in here, blowing you!" Lazarus said, jabbing a finger into his chest.  "As for the rest of them, I\'m sure you have a better fucking clue than you\'re admitting."

Rigby\'s heart sank but he held Lazarus\' stare.

"They do run in the same groups," he hazarded.

"You spat on him, and he didn\'t give me your name.  He protected you, for whatever damn reason, probably out of fear.  I trusted you to keep him pure, and you do this behind my back."

"He was denying you!" Rigby shouted.

"That\'s why he\'s pure, moron.  He denies everyone."

Rigby found himself with little else to say, and slowly dropped to his knees.

"I\'ve never denied you, Lazarus," he said.  "I\'ll make sure he\'s safe.  I\'ll make sure you\'re happy."

Lazarus mused on his fledgling\'s position, knowing it had been a long time since he\'d been in the worship pose.

"You know what I like.  Do it all," he prompted, and stepped directly before Rigby, who nodded his understanding and set about freeing Lazarus from his clothes.

[Trillian]

BEN FOUND HE DIDN\'T MIND being drunk from by Lazarus, and settled into a routine where he was fed from once every two weeks, though he saw Lazarus more often than that, in order for the vampire to attempt to have him surrender to sex.  Rigby made Avon and the other boys disappear, and he heard a rumour that they were servicing the fires in the basement - the harsh job that Avon had once told him he never wanted to get.  He couldn\'t feel guilty for being the reason they were all there, though he did pine for the friendship he\'d thought he\'d get with Avon.

The rest of the boys in the household didn\'t goad him, but they also didn\'t become his friend either.  Ben had been moved from the bathing room attendant job in order to be a server at mealtime, which he liked better because it meant he had access to the kitchens between mealtimes.  Rigby still scowled and cursed at him, but only when he made a mistake and even though he never felt completely at ease with the other vampire, he felt safer as time passed and nothing more happened.

He\'d begun to allow Lazarus to touch him during feeding (not that he was in any mind to stop him), but was no longer uncomfortable with being pawed at both over and now more recently, under his clothing.  The last thing they\'d done was Lazarus freeing Ben from his pants and then stroking him until he came as Lazarus drank.  It was also the first night they\'d kissed, for after Lazarus closed his wound, Ben had turned his head and sought Lazarus\' lips, thinking it was fitting to at least kiss him if they were doing something so intimate.  There was no spark, but it was still nice as Lazarus\' expert tongue dominated Ben\'s curious, seeking one.  Lazarus had propositioned him a great deal for an hour afterward, insistent that Ben allow him to do more and growing angry and impatient when he was denied, making the night sour for Ben somewhat.  It could\'ve ended on a pleasant note, but Lazarus hadn\'t allowed it.  He\'d sent Ben to fetch a boy called Mark, describing which floor and room he was in.  Ben left and did as Lazarus asked, knocking on Mark\'s door and explaining that Lazarus wanted him.  He didn\'t miss the fact Mark was blonde like Ben, and had blue eyes like Ben (though not as pale), same size and height, though his face was very different.  It was close enough for Ben to understand how Lazarus was going to view his time with Mark, however, and he scurried to his room.

The sex was still going on around him, and the constant pressure from Lazarus was making him more aware of it, and starting to want it for himself.  He\'d always considered sex to be something born of love, though, or at the very least with someone he felt would appreciate him.  With Lazarus sleeping with every boy in the household (of which he knew there were seventy three, including him), it hardly made him feel like he would be special.  He knew Lazarus was old enough to not need to drink, though he drank from Ben whenever he could spare it.  Rigby, however, he\'d heard needed to drink every night and had boys on a rotating roster in order to not weaken anyone.  He\'d never called on Ben, for which he was grateful.  He had the impression that for how little Ben liked Rigby, Rigby liked him much less.

And so Ben survived for months in the household, isolated and spoken to by the boys only when they needed to in order to operate efficiently in their jobs.  He spent his free time outside in the gardens, getting himself lost in the hedge maze and daydreaming.

His schedule didn\'t change, nor did anyone elses.  Not until the newcomers arrived.

[Existentially Odd]

They came at night, only a couple of hours before dawn, in a carriage that rocked and reeled as it flew along the ornate driveway of Lazarus\' estate.  They pulled up in front the enormous house as quietly as was possible, considering the speed of the vehicle had barely lessened as they approached the mostly-dark mansion.  When they stopped before the ornate doors, the carriage driver stared at the building for a minute or so before he jumped down nimbly and strode to the carriage window.

"Stay here," Kerr growled, unsurprised when the heavy velvet curtain covering the open window was pulled back and his sire\'s cherubic face appeared in the opening.

"There are vampires inside," he sang ominously, his dark blue eyes enormous and alight at the prospect.  "One\'s very old."

"I know," the Irishman snarled, angry enough to reach in and snatch the curtain back into position, uncaring that it entirely covered Sawyl\'s face.  In fact, he preferred it that way.  "Just stay here.  I expect they\'ll send us packing very quickly, considering our likes," he explained bitterly, spinning on his well-shod heel and striding towards the front door.  He didn\'t get so far away that he didn\'t hear his sire\'s parting comment.

"Speak for yourself," the child vampire chimed defiantly, giggling softly with the other two occupants of the carriage.

Kerr was so furious with the lot of them that he couldn\'t bring himself to respond.  Frankly, he didn\'t have time.  They only had a few hours before dawn and he didn\'t anticipate they\'d be sheltered within the house, no matter how enthusiastically he threw himself upon the mercy of the ancient residing within; naturally, it fell to him to clean up their mess, as it always was, and he was livid with all three.

He paused before he knocked, adjusting the ornate lace cravat at his throat and checking that his black coat was straight.  A little dusty from their panicked flight from the city, but still fine enough to distinguish him as a man of means rather than some wild-eyed vagabond looking for charity.  His white tights and knee-high black boots had suffered the same messy treatment from the environment and he leaned down to brush at his thighs before straightening and running his hands through his dark brown hair.  It fell from a central part and reached as far as the top of his nape - he had a habit of spreading his thumb apart from his fingers and swooping through it when he was upset, rather than tucking it behind his ears.  He sported a goatee beard around his mouth and thick sideburns that speared down and reached halfway along either side of his jaw; the effect made him look older than the twenty-six years of age he\'d accrued by the time he was turned.

Of course, not of it made him look as old as he actually was, for there were not many mobile two hundred and forty year olds about.  Clearing his throat (and sensing a great deal of mortal life beyond the doors, some of it passing by close enough to convince him he wouldn\'t be able to break in without notice), Kerr lifted his right fist and rapped smartly on the door.  When it was opened by a teenaged boy, he frowned, but managed to utter the request he\'d been rehearsing.

"Hello. My name is Kerr Galvin and I would very much like to meet with the master of this residence, to discuss the possibility of shelter here throughout the coming day."

[Trillian]

The boy was strong for one his age, for only the older teenage boys and young men were able to push the heavy timber plank through its iron holders in order to open the doors after being locked down for the night.  When he was greeted by the vampire on the doorstep he blinked his shock and then held up a hand, his index finger more prominently then the rest.

"Wait one moment," he said, then turned to his right.  "Fetch Rigby," he said, and a much younger teenage boy could be seen dashing up the stairs to do as was bidden.  A couple of minutes later Rigby appeared, walking quickly down the stairs but not running, though the urgency of an unknown vampire waiting at the front door was certainly reason to hurry.  All the boys could identify the undead in this house, and Rigby didn\'t like the idea of one of his kind coming in to upset their little order.

"Thank you Samuel," he said, and the youth who\'d opened the door nodded before leaving.  "Pardon me for being rude, but I must ask what your business here is?"

He could feel the age of the vampire before him, much older than himself, but only a speck in time compared to Lazarus.  He wasn\'t worried so much about being invaded as he was about being unsettled.  His gaze flicked past the stranger\'s shoulder to see the carriage in the driveway before he looked back at Kerr in order to listen to his response.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr gave the vampire who answered the door an apologetic look, pressing his hand humbly to his breast.  "No need for apology, it is I who is being rude, intruding like this - I understand that - it\'s just that we\'re desperate," he explained, a note of it entering his voice as he admitted it.

"My sire and my fledglings, they\'ve... caused quite a spot of bother in the city.  It\'s dangerous for us there, we\'re fleeing but the dawn is approaching and we don\'t have anywhere else to go.  We need... shelter, if at all possible" he beseeched.  "I was hoping the master of the house might oblige us," he hinted, knowing that this vampire was not the ancient being in the mansion but willing to tell his story to him because he was obviously important.

He wouldn\'t have come to the door first, otherwise.

[Trillian]

If it was up to Rigby, he would\'ve turned this vampire away, but Lazarus didn\'t like decisions made without his input, and so the one in front of Kerr hesitated, unsure of what the best course of action was.

"You may come in to negotiate your stay while your bloodline wait outside.  I\'ll fetch Lazarus.  What\'s your name?" he prompted.  When Kerr gave it, he turned and beckoned a watchful boy from out of a doorway.  "Rene, fetch Lazarus for me and tell him I\'m in the tapestry room with a kindred named Kerr Galvin."

Rene blurted out a \'yes Rigby\' before dashing upstairs.  Rigby began moving to said tapestry room, expecting Kerr to follow and glancing back once to make sure he was - though he could feel Kerr at his back in a rather prickly, unlovely way.

The tapestry room was a sitting room where each wall was covered in several vertical tapestries except for the back wall, which had a huge war story to tell from left to right, taking up the entire space.  A cluster of armchairs and two seater settees were gathered in a square around a low, wide coffee table, all of the furniture upon a huge, square rug almost as detailed as the tapestries themselves.

Rigby offered a seat and then sat opposite wherever Kerr chose, lowering himself onto his cushioned chair while eyeing Kerr off, glistening green eyes like emeralds watching him speculatively, like an animal waiting to strike.  He knew Lazarus would take his time getting down because he had a boy with him, and would get dressed and preen before coming down.  He was faster than Rigby expected, showing up in ten minutes, and soon the Ancient was approaching the chair in which Kerr sat, giving Rigby a questioning look.

"He wants to stay for the night, and his bloodline," he explained.  Lazarus finally rounded on Kerr and held his hand out for the shaking.

"Rude, Rigby.  You should\'ve introduced us properly."

"Sorry, Lazarus.  Our visitor is Kerr Galvin," he turned to Kerr and made a short bow of acknowledgement.  "Kerr, this is the lord of the household, Lazarus of Bethany."

He used Lazarus\' biblical reference, knowing the Ancient would be heartened by this enough to take Rigby out of the bad books in case he was in them.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr - who\'d spent the ten minutes of silence that sitting with Rigby afforded him looking at the beautiful tapestries around the room and fending off numerous mental queries from his family with acerbic instructions to let him concentrate - was conscious of Lazarus approaching before he was in the room.  By the time he stood before the brunette Irishman, he could barely contain himself.

Their words flowed around him but his every instinct drove him to his knees at the blonde ancient\'s feet, ignorant of his outstretched hand because his face was more or less buried in the gorgeous rug beneath them all.  "Sir," he breathed into the woven carpet, "you honour me.  I am humbled and grateful for your time."  The name of the being before him (whose face he\'d barely had time to register, given the speed at which his instincts had forced him off his seat and into his supplicating position) struck him; being as devoutly Catholic as he\'d been raised, he could hardly not know the name Lazarus of Bethany.  Given the power that was resonating through him, he was also not given to doubting the claim that that was exactly who stood before him.

The knowledge left him speechless and unable to lift his head unless directly ordered to do so - and when he did, if that hand was still outstretched, he would take it within both of his and kiss it reverently.

[Trillian]

Lazarus\' eyes widened at the display before him - as did Rigby\'s - and his outstretched hand was returned to himself, settling at his hip while the other did the same opposite.

Lazarus had come across this before, though it was rare, and it had only been a couple of times in the past couple of hundred years.  Both times it had to do with his great age and he had no doubt that it was because of this again.  Every time he\'d had it happen, also, he\'d won himself a devout follower, much more loyal than any fledgling he might create on a whim (though Rigby was certainly the most loyal fledgling he\'d had so far).

He realised Kerr wasn\'t going to move unless he said something, and so he gave permission.

"You may rise."

When Kerr lifted his head, he wouldn\'t find an extended hand, but he would certainly be greeted with a broad smile on Lazarus\' face.

"Take a seat," he commanded next, choosing the one Rigby had chosen opposite the one where Kerr had been before his reverent display.  Rigby moved to the one at Lazarus\' side, on his right and watched Kerr with a much more wary gaze than he had before.

"It seems a very novice mistake, to be caught without shelter upon dawn\'s approach," Lazarus pointed out, gleaning from Rigby\'s short sentence that Kerr and his bloodline were needing a place to stay and assuming that they were in dire need of assistance, because they could all feel the night\'s ending approach.

[Existentially Odd]

Kerr\'s expression was less adoring and more grim as his family was referenced and the fury he\'d been feeling returned to him.  It was less strong, now that he had Lazarus\' presence triggering his impulses of supplication (and the peace to be found therein), but it couldn\'t be completely wiped out; it was too huge.

"Yes, well it was less of a novice mistake and more of a necessity," he answered quietly, his lips pressed together in a thin line.  "My sire... he\'s a willful child vampire and I\'m afraid his impulses are exactly as mature as those of an eleven year old.  He and his mothers - I may as well tell you, they are freakish beings, two women, with two bodies, but their heads are joined and one of them gave birth to Sawyl before we sired them into eternal life," he explained resignedly, his eyes speaking their apology as he presented this tangled web of information for Lazarus\' approval, "they like to \'play\' with their food and one of the men they\'d taken got free of them somehow.  They never should have taken the whole family on, but there you have it.  The local constabulary was alerted and we barely made it out of the city in our carriage.  I wasn\'t with them, of course," Kerr asserted, wanting to make that clear.

Lazarus lived in a home that practically breathed from the amount of mortals he could feel housed within it; he doubted very much that such a sympathiser would take kindly to his tale of mortal torture and terrorising.  The least he could do was admit that he played no part in such horrible games and make it clear that he was just the negotiator, the protector... the maid who had to clean up their sinful mess yet again.  He still held no real hope that they\'d be accepted into this well organised and seemingly-blissful household.

"Ideally, we need some shelter for a while, to give me time to travel back to the city to organise our hastily-abandoned affairs properly, but I\'m willing to take what I can get, at this stage.  A shaded stable room, if you can spare it, where we might slumber the day before we move on to find something a little more permanent, possibly closer to the city?  In all honesty, I was in such a panic that I simply drove and took no time to observe my surroundings, so I have no knowledge of what we may have left behind us.  Yours was the first place I noticed, whether because that is the lay of the land or just how long my panic lasted, I cannot say for certain.  I do not wish to burden you any longer than is necessary, though, we will take anything you will allow, at this late stage," he promised, his tone still excessively apologetic but also a bit hopeful and desperate now, also.

[Trillian]

Lazarus mused over the news.  The idea of letting in willful vampires who tortured those who drank from was not appealing, yet Kerr seemed stable enough.  He obviously couldn\'t control his bloodline however, and that was a dangerous thing.
 
"Reminds me of the Faraday family," Lazarus said, and Rigby glanced at him to see if he was being sent a message about what they\'d done with the Faraday vampires.  "They were somewhat sadistic as well," he said, musing.  "But it didn\'t turn out so ghastly, in spite of my initial concerns."
 
Rigby knew why it hadn\'t turned out ghastly, but he wasn\'t about to discuss that with Kerr.  He\'d been mortal when they\'d come by the house, and hadn\'t bothered to ask permission to stay like Kerr had - they\'d just... entered.
 
"I don\'t want to invite your bloodline in if they\'re just going to whittle down the lovely collection of boys I\'ve gathered for myself," he said, raising his eyebrow at Kerr and awaiting promises that the other vampire would control his \'family\'.  He sensed a desperation emanating from Kerr, and it was only logical to feel it, for there weren\'t too many options facing them before dawn - other than to seal their carriage down and stay in it for the day.  A dangerous prospect, to be sure.

[Existentially Odd]

"Oh, understandably!" Kerr stammered, looking at Lazarus in something akin to amazement, not believing his luck.  It actually sounded like the ancient was considering letting them into the house - and possibly not just for the day.  He needed to test that theory, though.

"I would go so far as to say that, in fact, they wouldn\'t even have to drink from any of your... uh, boys... for just the one day - they certainly got their fill tonight," he finished grimly, pausing as he adopted a frown of concentration, glancing up at Lazarus from beneath his lashes, his gaze flicking uncertainly to Rigby and back again.  "Unless... you\'re saying... that we\'re welcome to stay here for longer than just a day?"