Rich Boy: Awakening - 15. Chapter 15

“Damn it all, Michael, this is not what I want and you damn well know it!” Jeremy yelled, and Michael winced at the look of hurt on the guy’s face. Painfully he turned away from Jeremy and looked out the windows of his room at the city below him. Sunlight streamed down on the city, and he found it hard to believe it was nearly Christmas already. The warm temperatures seemed totally odd with all the Christmas decorations he had seen earlier at the mall.

“I know.” Michael said softly as Jeremy padded across the room and put his hands on Michael’s shoulders. They were both wearing shorts, and t-shirts. Michael’s was his favorite smoke-gray, while Jeremy’s was a solid teal. He closed his eyes at the contact, and let the tears he was feeling inside well up. Jeremy was right, their relationship had not been going at all well.

Every time he integrated more of the Worthington geas, he could feel the distance grow greater between them. He loved Jeremy no less than he had months ago, and in fact, knew that he loved him even more, but the changes in him made the distance a fact of life. Jeremy was a true innocent, kind and caring, totally giving, and he deserved so much more than Michael.

Despite the distance though, Michael had not shared any of his secrets with Jeremy or been able to drop his relationship with the dark-haired guy. Jeremy was everything he could want in a man, and had more than enough love for him, but the problem was that Michael could not love Jeremy the same way. Oh he loved him alright, loved him so dearly he could not give him up even though he knew it would be better for them both. Without Michael leading him on, Jeremy could find someone who deserved his love and could return it the way he gave it.

They had gone no further than kissing, and occasional groping in their relationship. How could he let them go further when he was having regular sex with other guys? Michael knew Jeremy wanted exclusivity in their relationship, but he also knew he could not provide it to him. The bond between Rob and Michael was still tentative, and only the regular rounds of sex kept Rob as tightly bound as he needed to be right now. Eventually the need to reinforce it with sex would fade, until he no longer needed to have sex with Rob at all. He looked forward to that day, but the paths of Dark magic were laced with sex, because sex was power, in its own way.

Then there were his ongoing lessons with Byron Jones. Some of them required sexual components to complete successfully. Most of the time, Michael was able to use Brandon or Rob for those, but occasionally he had taken physical pleasure with the two students Jones brought with him, Mitchell and David. This last session had required a mundane, though, and Rob had brought him one for that, one of his toadies, a vile young man by the name of Bill. After a few glances into the depraved mind of that guy, Michael had no compunction of using him in the ways necessary. Left to his own devices, Bill would end up a convicted murderer some day, and Michael was doing the world a favor with the magical leash he had fixed to the boy through sex and power.

Jeremy could not be expected to understand that, though. To him sex was something sacred, something to be cherished. Jeremy’s friendship with Jamie, which had been growing all these months as well, had only served to reinforce that concept in him. Sure, when they’d first met, Jeremy had been crude about sex, but that proved to only be a defense mechanism against the vulgarities of high school.

“Do you love me?” Jeremy asked in a soft voice as his hands began to massage Michael’s shoulders. “You are so tense all the time.”

“I love you.” Michael said with a sigh. “Sometimes I wish I didn’t love you half as much as I do, but I do love you, with all my heart.”

“Then why won’t you share what’s wrong with me?” Jeremy asked in a voice that was filled with pain, and Michael felt a genuine sob reach through him. The integration of the Worthington geas was more than half-complete, and he had to admit all those people had been right all those years. Love was a weakness, it left you vulnerable to things that could kill a mage walking the Dark paths.

“You’re too good for me.” Michael said, admitting the truth, or at least part of it. “I don’t deserve you, and you’d be better off without me.”

“Why do you say that?” Jeremy asked. “It’s not true, you know. I don’t deserve you. Here you are, this powerful mage, who can do all sorts of things that I can’t even imagine, and I’m nothing.”

“You are not nothing!” Michael snarled, turning around and meeting those hazel eyes, windows into Jeremy’s soul. They were alone in the house today, except for Jamie who was in his room doing homework. Elizabeth, Stacy, and Richie were attending some meeting of local Light mages on some matter they had not shared. Brandon was doing some Christmas shopping.

“If I am not nothing, then why won’t you open up?” Jeremy asked softly. “You don’t talk to me anymore.”

“We talk.” Michael snapped, but he couldn’t look away from those eyes.

“We talk, but nothing important.” Jeremy said softly. “We talk about me winning the State Championship, but we don’t talk about how I can use that for our advantage. We talk about what you did the day before, but never about who it was with, or anything really specific. Every time I get close to asking something like that, you change the subject.”

“I don’t want you to be…” Michael started to say, but bit it off.

“You don’t want what?” Jeremy persisted. “What is it that you’re scared of? Are you afraid that reminding me of the things you can do will scare me away? Make me jealous? I love you Michael, all of you!”

“You wouldn’t love me if you knew.” Michael said and he got a sinking feeling in his stomach. If Jeremy knew, he wouldn’t love Michael, and it was best if Jeremy went on his way. Yes, it would hurt to know how Michael had cheated on him, that Michael could never be the faithful lover that Jeremy wanted, but it was for the best. Taking a deep breath, he centered himself and opened his mind up completely. He took down all the walls, except for the crystal sphere holding the remnants of the geas. There were barriers in there, segregating things he would not want Byron Jones to know, things he did not want Brandon, or Carl, or Jamie or Stacy to know. So many walls he’d put up in the last few months; so many compartments for all the different lines he had to walk, and he dropped them all for this as he used the physical and eye contact with Jeremy to draw him in. Even as he did so, he felt Jeremy’s hurt, and Jeremy’s love for him. As Jeremy realized what was happening, there was a feeling of loving victory, that at last he could fix the gap that had grown between them, and maybe Michael would let their relationship go to the next level.

Then Jeremy saw what was in Michael, and he quivered with shock. He looked down, through Michael’s eyes as he remembered the feeling of power and superiority that washed through him as he set the spell on Rob in that locker room. Just after expressing his love and commitment to Jeremy, Michael had let Rob give him a blowjob, and used that sexual act to seal Rob to him. He knew when he did it that he was betraying Jeremy, but he did it anyway, to seal Rob to him because it was the quickest, most expedient way.

Then they fast-forwarded to three weeks later, in that abandoned mining building, where he’d fucked Rob for the first time. Rob had brought the gear from his own basement dungeon, and Michael had used it to tie him up, suspend him from a sling, and then fuck him with only his cock touching Rob. It had been an experience in Michael’s power, and a deepening of his control over the overgrown child that was Rob.

Then there had been Bill, the hapless mundane, the potential murderer who was to be leashed to Michael in a series of Dark spells he needed to learn. Even though he never planned to use those spells, he had to set them in someone so he could learn to detect them and counter them, and he had known leashing a potential murderer would be a good thing, just as the leashes he kept Rob fettered with were a good thing.

Left to his own devices, Rob would have grown to do more harm than good, but in Michael’s service he would do little harm. Michael was a Dark mage, and that meant his powers were mired in sex, and seizing power over others. Unlike other Dark mages, Michael planned to use his powers in certain ways, to limit their harm on the world, on true innocents like Jeremy. That was why he had to let Jeremy go. He could not corrupt Jeremy. He loved him too much.

“Oh you stupid idiot.” Jeremy murmured as Michael let him go, set him outside of Michael’s mind, and brought up the myriad shields and walls that protected his secrets from others. Jeremy had tears in his eyes, tears that leaked down his cheeks.

“I’m sorry, Jeremy.” Michael murmured through his own tears. “I know how much it hurts, but I can’t be what you want me to be. I’m not Jamie, you have to understand that.”

“God damn it Worthington Michael Sinclair, if I wanted Jamie I’d chase after him.” Jeremy shouted at the top of his lungs, and Michael stared in shock. His ears hurt from that blast! Jeremy pushed away from him and began to pace across the spacious room, muttering to himself.

“I understand that it is over.” Michael said softly.

“Fuck you!” Jeremy shouted, stopping his pacing and whirling to face Michael, his arm outstretched, and finger pointing. “You know what, fuck you! I am fucking pissed you god damned son of a bitch! This had nothing to do with you thinking I was jealous of you, or thinking I thought I was inferior because I’m not a mage. You want to know something, Michael? You were right that this whole fucking situation wasn’t fair to me, but you were wrong about why it wasn’t fair!”

“What?” Michael asked.

“God damn you.” Jeremy growled again. “You know, you really are a fucking spoiled rich boy! You had no right to decide if I could handle the truth or not! Here I was thinking it was your magic that was making a divide between us!”

“It is!” Michael said bitterly. “Didn’t you understand that? My magic, I can’t practice certain things without sex…”

“So why didn’t you tell me that instead of just letting me believe you would be faithful to me?” Jeremy demanded.

“Because it was what you wanted.” Michael muttered.

“I want to be a mage too, so I can be your equal there!” Jeremy shouted. “I’m not ever going to get that, am I?”

“No.” Michael muttered sadly. “You weren’t born with the gift.”

“So, I came to terms with that.” Jeremy snorted. “So I won’t be a mage like you. There are things I can do that you can’t. I’m a better wrestler, and I’ll go to law school and be a damn better lawyer than you could ever be too! I don’t have to be a mage to be your equal, and I understand that!”

“But…” Michael started to argue. Jeremy cut him off though.

“If I can understand that, and accept it, don’t you think I deserve a chance to even fucking decide for myself about the sex thing?” Jeremy shouted. “How dare you decide that it was too important to me for me to stay with you? That is my fucking decision to make, not yours! You won’t even let me make it though. You just assume it will create a divide between us, and then create it yourself!”

“I’m sorry.” Michael said with shame, actually hanging his head.

“You damn well should be sorry.” Jeremy shouted, and then stomped over to where Michael stood and stared down at him. Michael couldn’t help but raise his head so he could look into those flashing hazel eyes. “You owe me an apology, Sinclair, and there’s only one thing I will accept as an apology.”

“What’s that?” Michael asked, not daring to hope.

“Sex, you and me, right now, right here.” Jeremy murmured angrily.

“Wait.” Michael murmured with alarm. “You can’t mean to want it like this, do you? I mean, it’s supposed to be romantic, maybe after the perfect date, filled with love. I can’t take your virginity after a fight like this.”

“Maybe that’s how other people get it, but I’m not in love with someone like that.” Jeremy growled and there was a strange fire in his eyes. “I’m in love with someone who uses Dark magic, and I don’t think I really understood it until now. You’re not Jamie, and you know, I think if you were Jamie I’d get bored damn quick. I don’t know if I can handle this for the rest of my life, but I want to try, you fucking idiot. This is my decision, and if this is what a relationship with you includes, I want to damn well try it out and see if I like it, so we’re going to do this.”

“What are we going to do?” Michael asked, but there was a fire burning in his gut, and his cock was growing at the thought of Jeremy stretched out before him, nude and…

“We’re going to wrestle.” Jeremy said fiercely, taking a step back and kicking off his sandals while he unbuttoned his shorts. “Take off your clothes, all of them.”

“Are you sure about this?” Michael asked, and when Jeremy only replied with a growl, he began to strip down as well. Jeremy’s hard cock was pointing right at him, and his finished growing to its full length as he took in Jeremy’s lean, sculpted body. He was like a work of art, so good looking that Michelangelo would have wept at never being able to capture his beauty completely. “What now?”

“Now we wrestle.” Jeremy’s grin was feral, like he had released a snarling animal inside of him. It was the look Jeremy had on the wrestling mat. “Winner is in control, and none of your magic. This is man against man, body against body. You got it?”

“I got it.” Michael felt like laughing as he was filled with a savage joy. What had gotten into Jeremy he didn’t know, but he liked this. He liked battling for control with the man he loved. Whatever had gotten into Jeremy, as they began to grapple with each other, testing each other, Michael knew that this Jeremy could be his partner, his equal in many ways.

Jeremy was a better wrestler than Michael, but Michael wanted to fuck him. He was a proud man, and he wouldn’t let Jeremy win without a real fight. There was something to fight for, and as he felt his hard cock brush Jeremy’s skin while they grappled, he knew he wanted to feel the hot skin of Jeremy’s hole around his cock. In this match, there was no break, no time limit, and they were both soon covered with sweat, making their skin even more slippery. Sweat burned Michael’s eyes as he struggled to his hands and knees, trying to keep Jeremy from pinning him. Then something unexpected happened, and his eyes widened.

It hurt as Jeremy’s thick cock pushed against his ass ring, but the sweat on their bodies was lube, after a fashion, and the head slipped inside, albeit with a stab of pain that made Michael freeze. Jeremy stopped there, gasping for air, but Michael knew he was beaten, and he suddenly didn’t want to feel his cock inside Jeremy. He wanted Jeremy to dominate him, to push deeper inside, to show that Jeremy was indeed capable of taking control, not just being led. He pushed back, driving Jeremy’s cock deeper and pain turned into pleasure as Jeremy’s thick cock hit that special spot inside of him, and Michael moaned.

“Oh fucking god, yes.” Jeremy murmured as he began to push back and forth. Michael remembered more, and opened his shields again, laying everything bare and drawing Jeremy in. This was no gentle merging. With greedy, grasping mental fingers, he pulled Jeremy’s mind into his, until they were one. Jeremy’s body was in control of Michael, pushing in deep and then pulling out in a natural rhythm that stoked the fires deep inside Michael, but it was Michael’s mind that allowed him to feel the silky softness of his insides as they pleasured Jeremy’s cock, and that let Jeremy feel the way his arm wrapped around Michael’s stomach made him feel safe and secure, and the jolts of pure joy that filled Michael whenever Jeremy’s cock hit that spot. Soon Jeremy’s cock was hitting that spot on every deep thrust, and every sharp jerk outward. Even as Jeremy’s virginity disintegrated into a burning hot passion of lust and longing, and Michael soaked in the unspoken offering of power and built a bridge between them that was not normal between mundane and mage, their bodies built towards a climax that left them both grunting and moaning like animals.

There was no thought left inside them as they both reached a climax together. Their minds were joined at the most basic, primitive levels, where there was nothing but this moment, no future, no past, only the sensations of pleasure, the tightness of Michael around Jeremy’s cock, the slickness of their sweaty skins, and moans that they both released as they moved, and breathed in unison. The explosion of their orgasm, beginning and pulsing, and then draining from them was in complete tandem, and they collapsed together onto the carpet, Jeremy’s body on top of Michael, and they lay there together like that, not wanting to move or separate even as they recovered their breath, and their minds slowly drifted apart, until Michael was alone in his own mind, and Jeremy in his.

“Oh god.” Jeremy moaned as their bodies finally separated, and his cock slid out of Michael with a little plop. “If that’s what sex with you is like, I can fucking share.”

“Sex with me is not like that.” Michael moaned as he turned over, and curled up against Jeremy’s side. Jeremy put an arm around him. “Or at least, I have never, ever had sex with anyone that was like that. I didn’t think it was possible. I swear, I’ll find a way, just don’t take that away from me.”

“Seriously?” Jeremy asked. “No one’s ever fucked you like that?”

“No.” Michael answered honestly. “I’ve never had an experience like that before.”

“So, having sex with me is different than anyone else?” Jeremy asked with a chuckle as his other hand began to massage Michael’s short hair. “You think you can promise me that?”

“Promise you what?” Michael asked, not really sure.

“That sex with me will always be special, something more than you get anywhere else.” Jeremy said. “And promise me if it isn’t, if it’s missing something. You have to communicate with me, Michael. You have to share with me if this is going to work. No more hiding from me, no more secrets from me. You can keep them with anyone else, but no more secrets from me. Even if you have to lock them behind spells so no one else will find them, at least don’t keep them from me.”

“I can do that.” Michael said, and he yawned. He was exhausted all of a sudden, and it felt so warm, so safe, so wonderful in Jeremy’s arms. It made no sense. Jeremy was a mundane, and could not protect him, but he felt safe there, and somehow he felt like Jeremy was his equal, in his own way.

That hadn’t been sex, Michael reflected as he slumbered in Jeremy’s arms. Sure, the physical act had been sex, but in its own way that had been love as well. Michael’s path was not a normal one, and control was a constant feature of his mage life. Who controlled who was always a prime consideration in Dark magic, and somehow without even knowing what he was doing, Jeremy had found the key to Michael’s heart.

Even as he dozed, Michael could feel the subtle ebb and flow of Jeremy’s thoughts as he lay there, holding Michael in his arms. Jeremy was every bit of a good person as he had thought. He cared about others, including Michael more than he cared about himself. His love for Michael had grown deep, and fierce, so deep that he had already decided to tell his parents, no matter how disappointed they might be in him.

But there was a fierce spirit deep inside Jeremy that Michael had underestimated. It was a warrior spirit, the spirit that fueled and fired his wrestling, which had propelled him into the championship for their weight class. It was that warrior spirit that had risen up today, and taken control, that had forced Michael to admit what was wrong, and that had called Michael into a challenge of body and mind, as well as spirit. That spirit was what had encouraged Jeremy to claim Michael’s body, not by the traditional pin of wrestling, but by spearing Michael at the first opportunity, and it was that spirit that would keep their relationship going.

Jeremy did not like having to share Michael’s body with others, but if that were how he could get Michael, and keep him, then he would deal with the situation. There would be a price for Michael to pay, though. No matter what he thought, he’d have to make the effort to keep Jeremy. If he wanted sex with Jeremy, he’d have to fight for it, to struggle for it. Yes, Michael could feel Jeremy’s satisfaction with that answer, and knew that Jeremy may have just found a solution that would keep them happy and together.

Because in all honestly, Michael didn’t want a happy, sappy relationship. Oh, he loved Jeremy, but he loved certain qualities of Jeremy. He loved how Jeremy cared about others, but always remembered himself in the process. Jeremy wanted to make the lives of his family better, and in order to do that he had decided that he would succeed in life, become successful, make money, and then share that money with his family. He didn’t want things given to him, he didn’t want charity. He had too much pride for that. Jeremy would take opportunities though, he’d grab onto them and fight for them with everything he had, and that was why he’d confronted Michael today. He’d felt Michael slipping away, and had guessed it had to do with magic in some way, although he’d been wrong about it. He knew he could be happy with Michael, if Michael were honest with him, and so had forced that honesty and found some of his worst fears confirmed. Still, even with their confirmation, he realized he still wanted Michael, and if other people were having Michael, he’d get his own piece of the man he was in love with.

That brought a renewed fire into Jeremy, and while they were in a very light rapport thanks to Michael’s sleeping mind, Jeremy grew hard again. Without truly waking, but knowing what he was doing, Michael squirmed in Jeremy’s grip until his hole was touching the tip of Jeremy’s erect cock, and for the second time that day, he felt Jeremy entering him.

This time their sex was different than the first time. There was less of the animalistic passion, that fiery competitive spirit. That battle had already been fought and won, this time. There would be other battles in the future, both of them knew, but Jeremy had won this one. This time, as they lay side by side and Michael drifted in and out of a hazy slumber, Jeremy’s fucking him had to do with passion, and affirmation. Jeremy loved Michael, and wanted him, physically, and in any other way he could have him. Together they soared to the heights of passion, both a tenderness and a fierce, burning flame that promised an exciting life.

This time it lasted much longer than that animalistic, fiery first time. Jeremy’s hands explored Michael’s body more, finding his sensitive nipples and knowing how much teasing them brought pleasure to Michael. With this rapport, every bit as good as any Michael had experienced with Jamie, even though Jeremy was a mundane, they knew each other’s bodies intimately, knew each gasp of pleasure, and each thrust of passion. Together they soared like that, with that fire present in the back of their minds, and as they got closer to their climax, Jeremy’s mouth latched onto Michael’s throat, nibbling and biting, and sucking so that a spike of pain accented their climax in just the right amount to send them both over the edge and into oblivion.

They were floating in a calm sea, buoyant and holding them afloat in gentle warm waters. Physically their bodies were soaked with sweat again, and Jeremy was still hard inside of Michael, but every other muscle in their body was loose, spent and unable to flex or move at all. It was a perfect moment, shattered only by the shards of a crystal prison as the geas found the perfect moment to escape.

Panic filled Michael as the geas broke free so suddenly and with no warning. Immediately he was on the defensive, struggling to extricate Jeremy’s mind from his even as the geas attempted to seize control of them both. He reached for power to hold off the geas, which should not have been this strong. So much of it had already been integrated, and the geas was unable to reform those parts of itself even as it tried. When that tactic failed, it focused all its energies on integrating itself into the bonded mind that was Jeremy and Michael at the moment. Jeremy was a mundane, yes, but a mundane could be corrupted, and since Michael had made Jeremy such a part of his life, that corruption would corrupt Michael. Already it was too late for the geas to be put back in its cage.

It spun webs of connection between Jeremy and Michael, forcing the two melded minds into paths that would give it strength. The mundane’s mind was not reinforced by Mind

Healer magic, and so was more susceptible to the tunnels it cut into it, even as Michael tried to separate them. It was already too late for that, if Michael succeeded, new parts of the geas would be free to grow and fester inside the mundane’s mind, leaping back to their source when Michael inevitably tried to free Jeremy.

There was only one answer for this, and Michael knew that if he could not put the geas back into its cage, then he would have to absorb it, all of it, integrate all of it into himself at once, and because part of it had already spread to Jeremy, he would have to absorb that as well, and Jeremy would come to know all the evil that was inside of him. There was no hope for it, and to his surprise, he saw the willingness, no, not just willingness but an actual desire for it from Jeremy. Jeremy was a warrior all right, wanting to face this battle, and so with his consent Michael turned the tables and began to integrate with the geas.

Always before it had been just bits and pieces at a time, but now there could be none of that. Caution flew before the wind as he pulled in the geas, the parts of his life that were the essence of a Worthington Sinclair, and he faced them head on, without fear or revulsion.

Jeremy thought he understood how important sex could be to the life of a Dark mage, but he found out as the first thing to assail them was the memory of Worthington’s father bending the ten-year-old boy over, and entering him with no preparation, and nothing but spit for lube. The boy didn’t even cry out in pain as the father showed him what submission was, and taught him how magic cast during sex could settle so deep in the conscious that not even a powerful mage would know it was there. These were deep compulsions, so powerful that they drove Worthington’s psyche into a permanent split that had been fleeting before. No Worthington Sinclair would cry over dead animals as if their lives meant something!

There were more lessons, including lessons in the Bradwell heritage from his mother. The Bradwells were never as strong as the Sinclairs, but their strength lay in other areas. Where the Sinclairs were the masters of strength and domination, the Bradwells used cunning and guile. His mother taught him to lay traps that the unsuspecting would never see, to put them in the mind of a mundane, and hold them there until they came, like a spider to feed off the power of the person.

It was his Bradwell heritage that had powered his ability to steal skills from others while having sex with them. With that he was able to increase his power, and his skill by taking it from others, and his mother honed it into a weapon of perfection. Without even knowing what he was doing, he would take the best of a sexual partner and make it his own.

Then there were the lessons at school. During the day he was a bit of a loner, not really a part of the social structure of the school. He could have been a leader, but he saw no need for it, and others were too frightened to challenge him. When the geas was lifted and he was fully himself, he dominated those around him, bending them to his will as easily as wrapping twine around his fingers. Whether it was practicing domination of the mind and body, or the dangerous spells of magical combat, he had no peer. Even facing him three to one, his peers were scared of him and he often finished a mage duel by dominating their bodies after their defeat.

Strangely enough, that didn’t create a fear or hatred in them. It seemed to earn their respect, especially when he treated none of them poorly afterwards, or appeared to look down on them. Few understood that was because for him, he could not remember what had happened. The school had strict rules for the gifted, and what happened in training was never spoken of by anyone. Still, his actions earned respect more than hatred.

It was with his parents, though, and the summers at home that truly defined Worthington. He was freer there, and confined more closely when they were not present. His father distrusted deeply the impact of that first governess on his son, and so he took no chances. Still, with the geas lifted, they had many conversations and not all were about magic.

“You will be a leader, Worthington.” His father told him time and again. “You are the most powerful Sinclair to be born since Frederick William Sinclair, the last Dark Mage to unite the families in Old Europe. That was nine generations ago, and you can be as powerful as him one day.”

That was everything his family strove for, a return to the days of power when the Sinclair’s word was law for all Dark Families. Other families may have forgotten those days, the Light-blinded fools whispered horror stories to their children of when the Dark ruled supreme under the Sinclairs, but the Sinclairs never forgot.

There was more of course, moments when the geas was free to look at the totality of its life and to make its own dreams. It despised the weak boy it was forced to be most of the time, stripped of all his power because of the tendency to cry over things like innocent animals. It would be free of that muling child one day, and would show its father just how powerful he was.

That would be the day he would lay his father before him and teach him what it was like to be fucked. Never again would a man enter him, unless he allowed it for his own purposes. Once he was free, not even this mundane whose mind was entwined with his right now would ever be able to humiliate him like that.

The battle moved from just the mental to the physical plane, as his body stood up, pulling itself off of that penis that had gone soft anyway. The mundane was beneath him, really, and he let its mind slip from his. Michael Sinclair was weak, as weak as that child that wept over its Nana, even a Nana that had tried to cripple him, to make him vulnerable.

That was the bottom line truth he had to face. Worthington Michael Sinclair, no matter what he did, would always have enemies, and he had to be strong to face those enemies. He could not enjoy emotional encumbrances that pulled him down, made him weak for his enemies. If his Uncle knew of the mundane lying on his side, alone now and whimpering in pain from the scorching of his mind, the Uncle would use that to cause him even more pain.

Don’t you see? Worthington whispered to the weakness that was Michael. Your weaknesses only hurt them as well as you! Look at him! Is that what you want? What will your Uncle do when he finds this weakness? The pain Jeremy is in will be a picnic compared to this! What about Rob and his Bill? You have them leashed, but will you ever be strong enough to use them? Have you even considered using them on your Uncle? Bill at least is expendable, but you have not yet even thought of using him! How will you ever win? Our Uncle is not foolish enough to engage you directly in a mage duel. He will come at you from behind, or the side while you are distracted, and he will win!

No! Michael wept, unable to counter the harsh truths. Had he been fooling himself thinking he could love and still dance the path of a Dark Mage?

We must be whole. Worthington said. We must be ruthless, even you can see that. I see some strength in what you want, though. Jeremy, yes, he is a good man, and will make a good servant, but no more than that! We will keep him close to us, you and I together. He will be happy, even if the love he thinks is there is no more than illusion. As long as he is happy, that is all that matters, right? We can work together, you and I, we are Sinclairs. We should be one, will be one. We must be ruthless, but the appearance of compassion is a strength our parents missed. No, they weren’t perfect, and see, I am learning from you. Compassion is a motivating tool, it binds people to you tightly, useful people, and the appearance of it will work for us. What does it matter if we really feel it or not, as long as it looks like we do? It has the same effect, which is what you care about. Come, subsume yourself with me. I am strong enough to win, and I will make sure those you care about are protected. I can do that, you know.

I don’t know. Michael was growing weaker. He knew there was something wrong with the logic of Worthington, but he couldn’t think clearly to figure out what it was, couldn’t argue with it. He was so tired, had been through so many emotional ups and downs that he found himself giving in, letting himself go…

No! A new mental voice cried out, and the burning presence that had been in his mind flared to a new life, and this time it was there in full as Jamie opened the door to the room. He saw Worthington standing there, even as Michael faded inside of him and leaped across the room tackling him and coming into the necessary physical contact. He’d been too far away to affect the fight until now, but with the physical connection as they fell to the floor, he was inside the shields, and breathing new life into Michael.

Compassion cannot be faked! Jamie shouted even as Worthington, now in control of his body wrestled with Jamie. With a growl he tore Jamie’s shirt. Jamie shimmied out of it, and continued to maintain the necessary physical contact. Worthington was stronger, physically, and better at wrestling, but he fought with the passion and conviction of a Light Mage who knew what was right and wrong. Michael, you cannot fake compassion, and if you let him he will just fool people and when they truly need you, truly need your help, you will turn away because he does not know true compassion! Will you see him using Jeremy as a tool, as bait in a trap for your Uncle? He will do that you know.

No! Michael shouted, and began to struggle again, taking the strength the burning light gave him and using it on the darkness that was Worthington, but at first he had no impact. Worthington snarled, wordlessly tearing at the light, trying to throw it out, but when that failed, he changed tactics. Yes, he had a weapon to use against that light, and he had to use it before Michael grew strong enough.

Come to me you beautiful light. Worthington crooned, putting power into his mental voice and instead of fighting the boy in his arms, changing it to an embrace. It was his mother who had taught Worthington this, how to seduce another with power and touch, and his hands moved, caressing Jamie’s nude torso oh so gently, and his eyes locking onto Jamie’s. Blood calls to blood, and we are both Sinclair and Bradwell, Jamie. Think of the glory we can have together, you and I.

The Light boy was caught already, and knew it as he struggled weakly. Gone was the attempt to dominate him physically, but instead he tried to pull back and failed. The bright light tried to flee, but was caught instead, the flame heading towards the moth, and instead of burning the moth, being sucked inside. His gentle touches inflamed Jamie’s body so that it burned like it hadn’t since that one night, when he’d melded his mind with Michael’s. Oh how that memory burned for him, even as Worthington’s tongue entered his mouth and he responded hungrily, greedily. This was what he wanted, and it was Jamie’s hands that pushed his shorts down, and then his underwear, and kicked them off of him.

“Do you want me?” Worthington asked Jamie in a husky voice as the flame deepened, but began to turn in color. It was no longer as bright, no longer as filled with light. There was a darkness in there now, the red of lust, the orange of desire.

“Oh Gods, yes, take me.” Jamie moaned into Worthington’s mouth, and didn’t resist as Worthington moved into a sitting position. Their cocks, so nearly identical bounced against each other as Worthington positioned both of them so that his cock was now poised over Jamie’s hole. The head of his cock rubbed against the hole, and Jamie shivered again. “Please, take me now!”

“As you wish.” Worthington grinned, and ignored the scrambling of Michael as he sought to protect his brother. The Light mage was falling, and had already lost as Worthington pushed and his cock slid into that hole. Jamie had surrendered his purity and even as Michael started to gain control of the body, Worthington buried his cock fully inside Jamie in what had to be a painful rush for the Light Mage. Jamie cried out in pain, and something more as he surrendered his virginity, and the power that went with it, and then there were two people screaming in pain, and then three.

Worthington couldn’t understand it, here was his moment of victory, taking from Michael something that the weakling enjoyed, showing him how weak the lessons of Light were, and corrupting the Light Mage. Michael had fought at the end, when his cock was poised outside the hole of the Light Mage, had fought like never before, but it hadn’t saved Jamie. He should fade now, merge into Worthington as a bad memory, a lesson in weakness as the Light Mage became Worthington’s newest toy, newest plaything. Oh yes, there had been lessons on finding and corrupting Light Mages.

Dark Mages could never truly walk the path of Light, no matter how much they recanted of the Dark ways. The Light, in smug arrogance never embraced those it believed to be corrupted, even its own. A Dark Mage who found, and corrupted a young Light Mage, before his Ceremony of Ascendance would find taking that virginity to be the sweetest of experiences. His own power would increase, and the Light Mage would have a choice.

A Light Mage who lost his virginity to a Dark Mage would forever walk alone, friendless and without real power unless he adopted the ways of the Dark. Even his own kin would refuse to train him, although Light-blinded fools often still cared for their fallen, when it came to magic they trusted them no longer. This was what Worthington had gained, but in the instant that Jamie fell fully into lap, taking all of Worthington’s large cock into his virgin hole, power streamed from him into Worthington like a tsunami.

Worthington didn’t know Light Mage rituals, and this one was something that no Dark Mage could truly fathom. The Ceremony of Ascendance marked the end of childhood for a Light Mage. The Ceremony would not harm a virgin, but would burn anyone who came into it unclean. Rape would not affect a person, they had to willingly give up their virginity. The Light could not trust anyone so weak of will that they could not keep the Pledge of Virginity, so that was the greatest test.

Yet, as with everything of the Light there was exception, and while the Light would not accept him into it, Jamie’s willingness to violate his Pledge, and freely give himself in sex served a higher purpose. He did not do it for sexual desire, he did not do it because he desired the body that entered him, he did not choose this for himself. He gave it, gave away his future not for himself, but for Michael.

They had known that if the geas had ever succeeded in surprising him, Michael would lose to it. Michael was too young, in his own way, to truly stand against that much concentrated evil, and while Michael shied away from the darkest aspects of the Dark Path, he still embraced many of them. Michael was not Light, and he would never be Light. Still, they could hope for him to win, because while he was Dark, he was not evil.

In the oldest traditions of the Light, there was respect for the balance of all things. Light and Dark balanced each other as surely as Day and Night. Darkness did not have to mean evil, although it usually did. Stacy hoped to bring Michael to the point where he would be the best of all things possible for him, an Adept who was Dark, but not Evil. There were already too many evil Adepts in this world, and they could not afford another one. A Michael who was Dark, but not Evil would help balance the world, even if it cost Jamie’s entrance to the Light, and so he gave himself freely, gave the most sacred part of himself for one single purpose.

Worthington screamed as the fire burned him. The Light was not supposed to do this! It could not do this! Yet it did, it burned him even as inside him Michael screamed with rage and anger at the defiling of his brother. While it burned Worthington, it strengthened Michael and his mind burned with righteous, avenging anger as he struck at the geas-born Worthington.

No more! Michael roared, and with the fire that was borne of Jamie’s sacrifice, he burned the geas, forcing it apart, forcing it to lose control. With a snap, it was his body inside of Jamie, his cock buried inside his best friend, his brother, and Worthington was no more.

No, that wasn’t quite accurate. He was Worthington, as Worthington could have been, should have been without his father’s geas. He had shunned Worthington as evil, as something hated, but he could not hate himself, and so with the last of that pure fire, he took it and made it his, a part of him forever, but not his destiny, not his future. Even as Jamie’s lips fell on his, as he tasted Jamie’s salty tears, and gave in to Jamie’s begging, Jamie’s prayers that he would make it alright, that he would always have room in his heart for his brother, he accepted who he was once and for all.

Let the world know, and my Uncle beware. He thought in his mind even as his body moved, laying Jamie on his back, lips and cock still connected, and he put those legs over his shoulders and began to show his brother how pleasurable it really could be, giving his brother something for what he’d taken. I am so sorry, Jamie, so sorry.

When they came, Jamie cried out, and they continued kissing while their passion faded. They rested a bit, smiling at each other, wordlessly making promises to each other of brotherly love and friendship, and more, and then they went to Jeremy, who was still unconscious and poured healing energy into him. Linked, their magic was a curious mixture of light and dark, part of both, of neither, and it worked on the mundane, healing him of the damage from the fight, although his mind had been affected and would forever be different.

That was okay, though, because all of them had changed.