Chaos Lives in Everything - 25. Chapter 25

Skold and Dom stepped out of the woods side by side towards the glowing lights that shined through the many windows of Samhein’s mansion. Figures floated in and out of the house, working to carry the corpses of dead casualties into the driveway. They laid them neatly side by side, wrapping them in white sheets.

Samhein’s ball, the celebration of Paladin’s efforts, had turned into a massacre. And rightly so in Skold’s opinion. Already Skold’s wound had healed without a single blemish to show for it. Still he was aware that if it had not been for Dom showing up at the moment that he had his body would be among the corpses. This was something he would not forget. He had every attention of acknowledging that this evening.

Samhein was in the ballroom directing people where to go, always in charge it seemed.

“Spirits of Vahalia,” Candestine said, coming from the right. She looked relieved. “You are okay.”

Skold did not acknowlege her. He only had eyes for Samhein.

“Skold,” Samhein said. “You have no idea how much it relieves me to see you still among the living.”

“You used me as bait,” Skold said coldly. His eyes and voice was as hard an unyielding as a glacier of ice. “You knew that the necromancer wanted me.”

Samhein nodded reluctantly. “I did.”

“How?”

“A hunch. A hunch that turned out to be right. The necromancer that you met tonight is Bane. I couldn’t be sure but now I know. Up until tonight I thought that he was no more.”

“What else do you know about him?”

Samhein chuckled. “My dear Skold, are your memories really that far gone? Does the name not ring a bell?”

“What else do you know about him?” Skold repeated.

“I thought Bane the Eternally Damned One was just a legend,” Candestine said.\

“I used to think the same,” Dom replied. “But tonight I saw him with my own eyes, ran him through with my own sword, and it didn’t do a fucking thing.”

“But you know him better than anyone,” Samhein said to Skold. “It’s somewhere in the black sea of your memory. Even right now as we speak it’s wanting to come out, isn’t it? But it can’t, can it?”

There was indeed something scratching at the back of Skold’s mind. Just like a trapped rat in a cage trying to squeeze at the bars that held it. He felt the same desperate misery that he’d felt in the cemetary, right before he had touched the rune that the necromancer had left for him. But it did not matter, did it? What is the sense in trying to remember something that is forever lost? Skold thought. It matters not. The only thing that matters is what I know now. And what I know is that my past is forever lost to me.

“You were his apprentice,” Samhein said. “You went to him to learn death magic so that you could end. And the price was your soul. Only you didn’t pay it. That is why he wants you. And so I used you as bait to draw him out.”

Skold shook his head. “It matters not, draw whatever conclusions you want to. I am done working for you. If he kills you then so be it.” To the others he said, “If you guys want to come with me then come with me, or you can stay here. Personally whatever you decide it makes no difference to me. But I’m done here. I’m going home.”

Dom and Candestine followed him out of the ballroom without hesitation or objection.

Skold’s reflection stared back at him from the glass surface of the mirror hanging over the marble sink. He wanted to punch the glass, break it with his fist. He wanted his knuckles to bleed, see his own blood. He was enraged with himself. Disgusted. Confused. And above all else, frightened.

Dom and he were back at his apartment and not even the familiarity of his own home could comfort him. Steam rose from the jacuzzi. In the reflection he could see Dom watching him, waiting patiently. Slowly Dom rose out of the water, his chest and arms covered in dark patches of hair that clung to his flesh. Even now in, in his moment of turmoil, Skold could not help but notice Dom’s impressive physique. Even soft Dom’s cock was massive, long and thick, bouncing with each step.

“Come into the water with me,” Dom said. “I’m getting lonely.”

“Sorry I’m such poor company tonight.”

“I can make it all better.”

“Can you?”

“If you let me I can at least try.”

He let Dom take both of his hands and lead him towards the jacuzzi. Skold was becoming more and comfortable with Dom’s touch, with his presence. There were times like now when he wanted Dom’s touch, when he needed it. He stopped questioning whether or not Dom was trying to compramise him in some way, use him only to betray him later, and go with it. What would happen would happen.

The water was pleasantly warm, frothing lightly at the top. Sitting in his lap, Skold let his head fall against Dom’s chest and closed his eyes. He enjoyed the feeling of Dom’s arms around him, solid as stone and warm but not dangerous. It was strange how with Dom’s touch his thoughts did not churn so quickly, so maddeningly, the way his muscles immediately untensed.

“What is on your mind?” Dom asked, kissing the side of Skold’s face tenderly. “Tell me.”

“This is the second time that you have saved my life. It seems that I am becoming a damsel in distress. And I was thinking about how to tell you thank you. I am not good at saying such sentimental things however, so this will have to do.”

Dom grabbed Skold’s hair and tugged hard enough so that Skold was forced to look at him. “I appreciate that but I know that is not the only thing that is on your mind. Out with it. Confide in me.”

“I have never been able to confide in anyone.”

“You can with me.”

“Is that so? Prove it.”

“Have I not already numerous times in the short time that we have been aquainted?”

“You have,” Skold admitted grudgingly. “I am not good about talking about...my feelings. You know this.”

“I don’t care if it takes all night. We will sit here together, just like this, until you are done talking.”

Skold was silent for a long time, and during that time Dom continued to hold him, waiting silently. Patiently. Skold could feel Dom’s heart beating powerfully against his back, synchronized with his own heartbeat.

“Bane, the necromancer. I don’t think I was just his apprentice. I think I was his lover.”

“What makes say such a thing?”

“There was a moment when he reached out to touch me...to touch me the way a lover might touch another. He said that once his heart belonged to me.”

“He is a fiend. How do you know that he’s not lying? How do yoy know that Samhein’s not lying? For all we know the two of them could be working together and the party was just Samhein’s way to lure you in the necromancer’s clutches.”

“I have thought the same thing. I am not discounting your theory, not completely. But I do not know how else to say it...I know, I just know that the necromancer speaks the truth. I cannot remember. So much is lost to me. You have no idea how maddening it is, how torturous. If I could just remember...” Skold shook his head. “I am tired of being dogged by my past, a past that has been locked away in shadow. And as much as I hate him I know why King Yaldon had my memories erased...or locked away: He was afraid that once I defeated Paladin I would use death magic to overthrow him. For all I know that could have been my very intention. But I do not know.”

“The past whether it has been forgotten or it is remembered is the past,” Dom said. “Regardless it cannot be changed. You think I haven’t sinned, that I haven’t taken innocent lives that by all rights should have been spared? I have and those things will haunt me until the day that the sun explodes and takes this miserable planet with it. But I can attest to this: The future is not set in stone. Though are futures are predestined by Cerbyendeuyng we have free will to do as we please. Skold, you are stronger than you realize. I have never seen such strength in one as young as you. You wield life and death as if you are the creator of all things. You have the power to decide whether you choose to destroy the world or save it.”

Skold rose and turned. “So you think there’s hope for me yet?”

Dom nodded. “I think there’s hope for you yet. There is always hope even when it seems like there is none.”

Skold straddled Dom’s lap, wrapping his legs around Dom’s waist, his arms around Dom’s laps. He could feel the head of Dom’s cock pressing against the cleft of his ass. “I hope that you’re right. I truly don’t. Because I can’t bear to be this way any longer. I am tired of living this half life, being half of something and not whole.”

“Then take my hand and I will lead you in the right direction,” Dom whispered, his lips brushing against Skold’s. His cock had grown hard. He hugged Skold to him hard sliding the head of it into Skold’s silky hole. Skold pursed his in anticpation. “Take my hand and I will walk with you every step of the way along the path of redemption.”

“Yes,” Skold crooned, pushing down so that he was now impaled on Dom’s cock, so that the head was now touching the edge of his prostate. Dom gasped, chords of muscles shifting like mountains in the throe of a volcanoe.

Together they began to rock back and forth, their bodies becoming one. Dom’s thick cock was splitting Skold’s hole as he slid in and out of him. Water splashed over the edge onto the limestone floor.

“I am yours,” Dom growled. “Even if you don’t want me in return I declare it so. I am yours. Your enemies are my enemies, your troubles are my troubles. I will walk where you walk.” He was rocking into Skold faster and faster. Skold’s nails dug into the meat of his shoulders. Skold nibbled lightly at Dom’s earlobes, pulling at the gold ring that pierced it.

“Yes,” Skold whispered. “And I am yours as much as you are mine. May our bodies, our hearts, our souls, and destinies become one to form the perfect union.”

And with Skold’s declaration of love, Dom’s moans drowned Skold’s out as he burst into orgasm.