The Tale of Two Brothers

Chapter 5. Enjoy.

AND REVIEW PLEASE! Please, I like to hear comments and questions. And of course, for those of you who don\'t like it, post that you don\'t like it.

OH:



If you do NOT like homosexuality, I highly suggest you DO NOT READ from this chapter onward. Thank you.

You have been warned.

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She wasn\'t kidding. After they left the training room, she\'d been the same old Jill she\'d always been. Nat had a harder time of keeping himself straight. jack was still in his study and would be for the rest of the night. Now, he was standing outside his sire\'s door, hand poised over the knocker before he let it drop and paced for a few minutes. This would be hard. he hadn\'t done this in two years. Two, long, agonizing years. Taking a deep breath -which wasn\'t need really unless he was talking- he walked over to the door and raised the knocker then let it fall. Jack told him to come in and he heard the lock on the door turn.



Nat opened the door, entered, closed and relocked the door. Jack looked up from his desk then. He looked directly at the door handle first, then to Nat. Using up his reserves, Nat walked over to his sire and spun the chair around enough to slide into the man\'s lap. To say Jack was a little shocked would hit his reaction on the head. His arms just came up to lock around Nat\'s waist automatically and Nat buried his head in Jack\'s neck, inhaling the sweet scent there.



"To what do I owe this pleasure?"



"Of course it\'s your pleasure." Nat grunted and licked the skin of Jack\'s neck before biting down. Jack shuttered under him, hands moving. One locked in Nat\'s hair while the other steeled around his waist.



"Nathaniel-" He couldn\'t finish. Nat felt the bulge between their bodies growing and knew he\'d have to stop soon or risk incurring another bout of happenings better left alone, but he couldn\'t stop. Not yet. He owed it to Jill. He\'d gotten by earlier on the bare minimum and stopped before anything happened between them. Now however, he came willingly to take what he hadn\'t gotten earlier. If Jill could deal with her problem like it was nothing, then by damn, he\'d try dealing with his.



One would think that as an assassin, Nat would have no fears or qualms about anything the the fact of the matter was, he still had his humanity. He killed the corrupt, killed the murderers, rapists and only took money when he killed the fanatics bent on destroying his kind and the rest of the non-humans. He didn\'t like the fact that he had to take blood to survive but he\'d come to terms with it in his first year. He\'d never, however, come to terms with the need to take from Jack. There were just some things that shouldn\'t be accepted no matter how normal they were in another society. He had a fear of large bodies of water, such as oceans simply because he nearly died when he was younger trying to save Tucker. He\'d never gotten over that fear.



"Nat, you should stop now." Even though he said it, his hands didn\'t let up. Nat didn\'t stop but moved into a more comfortable position. "Nat-" He just sucked harder. Jack hissed and stood. Nat\'s legs wrapped around his sire\'s waist and then he felt himself pushed against the book shelf. It wasn\'t comfortable at all and when he made a protesting noise, he was pressed against something softer. The carpet. Much better. Nat\'s hands were moved and he growled against the skin between his lips and bit down again. Jack cursed and ground his erection against Nat\'s thigh. When he tried to move his hands, Jack growled at him and Nat gave up fighting. The he licked the wound closed and waited. Jack was shuttering and other than grinding that one time, hadn\'t done anything else that might constitute sex in any way.



When his sire looked at him, Nat noticed his green eyes were deeper, darker. Nat knew his own green eyes resembled something of the same but it was the eyes in front of him that he was more concerned about. Jack leaned in and let his tongue travel lightly along Nat\'s lower lip. Nat waited and then Jack pulled away. He must have been a little sloppy and Jack had cleaned up. In the vampire society, it was a small sign of affection just as in the wolf society. Although, in wolf society, if you were beta or gamma you liked your alpha\'s lip or if you were a wife, you liked your husbands lip and so on. In vampire society, it was the opposite in most things. How odd.



"What are you doing Nathaniel?"



"Hm?" he felt drugged. He knew what it was like to be on drugs. He\'d tried them as a teenager but this drug was much better than anything he\'d ever tried. And it wouldn\'t seep out of his system for little a while.



"Nat? Talk to me."



"Come back down here and let me finish." His voice sounded far away even to himself. He used to come to jack just to feel like this, to drown out his sorrows when he could. He was kind of doing that now in the fact he didn\'t really want to think about Jill and her problem. Except Jill and her problem were the reason he was here right now, on the verge of doing something that would hurt like hell and leave him frustrated later. Like he had been earlier.



A slap to his cheek made him frown and he muttered something before moving his free hand to grab the back of Jack\'s head. Jack didn\'t budge so, Nat went to him. Jack tried to fight the kiss but only managed to hold on by his sheer amount of will power. It was all gone now. If Nat didn\'t snap out of his stupor, there was no saving his fledgling.



"Benjamin, wake up boy. Now." Nat blinked and frowned, cursing Jack.



"Buzz kill. Why don\'t you just let me finish? Damn it Master, get back down here!"



"Nat, you said it again."



"I know what I said damn it. Stop fighting me!"



"If I don\'t you will hate me later and damn it, I don\'t like it when you hate me."



"I don\'t hate you, I hate myself." There it went. His buzz was gone. With a curse, he pushed Jack off of him and sat up, rubbing his temples. "Goddamn it Jack. Why did you have to go and do that?" Jack sighed and readjusted himself, sitting back on his knees and looking at Nat.



"Because you weren\'t acting like yourself."



"For good reason damn it. I\'ve decided it has to be done and if anything else comes with it screw it. Sometime or later I have to learn to take care of Tucker and you\'re the only one wait, scratch that, the only willing vampire I know who can teach me how to keep Tucker alive."



"So you\'re doing this for your brother."



"Kinda...yea. Mostly for myself though." He sighed. Time to admit the truth. "I can\'t help fighting Jack. It\'s my nature. I am -was- a wolf damn it and just submitting is against everything ingrained in me since before I was born. You know I enjoy it, wish I could get hard to enjoy it more but I can\'t. I don\'t want to enjoy it but I do. I fight because I need to know I did my damnedest to stop myself from giving in."



"So what changed that?"



"That fact that you were right. It\'s getting harder for me to pull away. I\'m back to staring at faces again and then, I almost didn\'t stop in the copter with Jill. I wasn\'t looking at her face and she had to get my attention for me to stop. She was fine though and in the end I didn\'t take more than maybe two cups of blood." Nat noticed Jack readjust himself. Again. He looked up to his sire with a raised eyebrow and Jack just shook his head.



"That is not your job Nat. That is for Jill to do."



"You didn\'t mind when we first started this parade."



"Because it was new to the both of us and now, I know how to control my urges."



"And you take them out on your wife. How quaint." Nat closed his eyes and breathed again. No matter how much he tried, he couldn\'t seem to get out of the habit of breathing. It was familiar to him. Familiar was good. Nat moved to his knees and then crawled the small distance to his sire who seemed to move back a little. Nat moved Jack\'s hands and started unbuttoning and zipping. "I feel bad for Jill so I\'ll take over in her place tonight." When Jack went to speak, Nat stopped him. "Shut up for once Jack. Isn\'t that what you tell me?" Jack just...deflated, almost, and nodded.



He may not be able to get hard but that didn\'t mean he didn\'t know how to use his mouth and this way, it wasn\'t painful for him.





Tucker was bored shitless. He\'d finally given up trying to talk to his brother and decided it might be good to hit the sack early. Then he wouldn\'t have to clean the room before bed. Again. And he didn\'t chance accidentally attacking a maid who came to check on them. If he forced himself to sleep he could get passed all of that. But just as he was reaching the precipice of wonderful oblivion, the door opened, closed and locked. Opening one of his eyes, he watched as Nat strode in, towel drying his hair, covered in nothing but a pair of old, worn jeans. He smelled... different.



Not being able to help himself, Tucker stood and walked over to his brother and stopped just behind him. He noticed Nat tensed but kept drying his hair. Tucker stepped in close proximity to his brother and inhaled. He couldn\'t place the scent and by gods he wanted too. Stepping back, Tuck crossed his arms over his chest. And waited. Would he [i]ever[/i] stop drying his hair? Finally.



"You smell different."



"Uh, I should. I just showered Tuck. Stop playing stupid brother."



"No, not like soap damn it! I mean, it\'s like your scent has completely changed."



"No possible bro. Go back to bed. I\'ll be there in a minute." Nat started puttering around the room, picking things up, tossing stray clothes into the dirty clothes pile and putting weapons back. Tucker just followed him around, inhaling his scent and trying to place it. He stopped when Nat finally pushed him to a stop. "Tuck, you\'re starting to bother me. Go to bed." There was a little more force behind his words and out of nowhere, against his will, Tucker\'s feet started moving towards the bed.



"What the hell! Nat! What did you do?!"



"If there is one thing you don\'t do Tucker, it\'s challenge your sire." Nat just continued to putter as Tucker climbed into bed and covered himself up. He was still cursing.



"How did you do that damn it?!"



"I brought you into unlife Tuck. I get to have cool powers like that."



"My fucking ass you pansy! Undo it, now!" Nat looked at his brother and his green eyes swirled. Tucker was caught in his gaze, unable to look away. He felt his will slowly sliding away.



"Go to sleep Tucker. We will talk tomorrow night." And just like that, Tucker was out. If he had to breathe, he might have been snoring. Shaking his head and knowing he\'d regret forcing Tucker to do anything tomorrow night, Nat looked around the room and located the piece of paper he\'d been trying to find. It was near dawn so he\'d have to hurry up and get his information before the day sleep pulled him under.



After sitting on the edge of the bed and dialing in the secure number, Nathaniel wrote down the information given to him and hung up the phone. The info was in code so only he would understand it, and maybe Jack but if Tucker looked at it he would see a bunch of numbers and odd symbols. But, knowing his brother, give him a few days and he\'d figure out the pattern in the numbers, symbols and eventually crack the code. Tucker was a puzzle master. Give him something unsolvable and even as a child he could solve it. Both he and his brother had above average intelligence. Guess it ran in the family. Their mother was genius.



With a last look around, Nat flipped off the small lamp on his bedside table and slipped under the covers. He forgot to change his pants. Oh well. He\'d do it that night. And with that last thought, Nat succumbed to the deep folds of the day sleep.





The mission had failed. His men were dead and he only knew one thing. They were banding together. The damn non-humans were banding together. That could only mean one thing: War. If war happened now, the humans would be caught unprepared and might be slaughtered like cattle while the non-humans would lose only few. In the last war, that was how it happened, or so it was written.



Fortune tellers were witches which were non-humans and must be purged from the earth. Oracles and soothsayers were the same. He had no way to spy on the enemy. He could not get a non-human to work for him because they were loyal to their own kind. Not even after hours of torture would they turn. He\'d tried. More times than he cared. And after the deaths of the five monsters in the last few months, it seemed they were even more against turning sides. Apparently, those five monsters meant something but what, he couldn\'t figure out.



Well sure, he knew the women were heading a foundation to keep the non-human world secret and the men were lawyers for the monsters but other than taking them out, there was nothing they could do. With the damn monster agency at the helm of non-human affairs, the deaths were covered up and made to look like some maniac killed them. Maniac. Phbt. That\'s what they were calling him. He wasn\'t a maniac. He was the object of reform. The hand of his deity. The one that would purge the world of the monsters and make it clean once again.



Pacing hadn\'t solved anything so he\'d walked to the sealed off chamber in where he kept the one thing he\'d rather do without. Unfortunately, there was one non-human he couldn\'t kill and that was a witch. As much as he wanted to slit her throat and watch her bleed, there was no way he could. If he did, their deity would abandon them for she was his instrument of faith. They didn\'t however, allow her anything in which to do spells. They cut out her tongue, her middle and first fingers, her eyes and sewed her mouth shut. She was alive but she wouldn\'t turn on them because she couldn\'t. They fed her through a tube in her stomach and had her hands tied behind her back. She pulled the tube out one too many times in a stretch to kill herself ending their existence but they caught on quickly enough and punished her for it.



Her name was Melinda. She\'d escaped the Witch Trials in Salem by moving to uncharted territories where she stayed until the mid nineteen hundreds. He knew that because she told him. Little did she know that she would be here now, locked away unable to cast her spells and unable to die. She was of no more use but again, if they wanted to win the war and purge the earth, she needed to remain alive long enough for them to do so.



Walking away from the little window, he decided it was time to form another strike team. They wouldn\'t go for a ship this time and they wouldn\'t go for planes -Al\'Quida had tried that- but something...different. Maybe the Agency itself. All it had was state-of-the-art electronics guarding it, maybe a few non-human scum. Electronics weren\'t a problem for his brain could sift through them in seconds and as for the guards, he had more at his beck and call, ready to do his bidding. Yes, he\'d have to make a strike for the Agency. That might put enough of a dent in their supplies and measures of defense for a while. Maybe even long enough for the humans to come to an underhanded win?



Oh yea, this was looking like a mighty fine idea.



Now to get moving.





He was brought into a light sleep once the sun set and woke to find Jill standing over him. If he hadn\'t smelled her before she walked over to the bed, he might have attacked her. As it was, Tucker was going to try when he woke up so she must have been there for a reason. Blinking to clear his vision, Nat sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. She sat next to him and clasped her hands in her lap. Twice in a matter of hours. What was it now? Was the world ending? The sky falling? Gods, he needed to go back to bed and wake up in a few hundred years. The vampire sleeping in the Congo sure had the right idea.



"What is it Jill?"



"I just wanted to thank you for what you did last night and tell you it was stupid of you."



"I didn\'t do it for you per say. You just gave me enough incentive to finish what I normally wouldn\'t."



"I mean about helping him out."



"Oh." Nat gained a little color in his cheeks. "I uh...I\'m sorry if it bothers you. I mean, I just-"



"I know why you did it Nat and I appreciate it. But I just wanted to tell you, it\'s going to happen again and again until I have to tell him. You can\'t be there every time you know." Nat didn\'t say anything. He knew he couldn\'t but he could try for as many times as Jill needed to recover or recompose herself. He sighed and fell back on the bed, hand moving to scratch and invisible itch on his stomach. As much as they picked at each other, as much as he threatened to behead her in horrid ways and as much as they argued over petty things, he didn\'t really mean any of it. Yes, he could be a ruthless killer, such that was second only to Jack himself, but he was just as soft hearted as his sire. Maybe it was blood-netic? Possibly.



"If you don\'t want Tucker jumping on you, I suggest you get your pretty little ass out of here Jill. He\'s coming around as I speak." She stood and nodded. With a smile and wave, she left the room, shutting the door behind her. Nat stood and stretched, feeling bones click into place and muscles ease. When Tucker slid into a light sleep, Nat walked over and touched him gently. Tucker came awake in an instant, hands latching on to Nat\'s wrist.



Tuck looked around for a moment, eyes blinking. He sighed and let Nat go. "Don\'t do that brother."



"Wake you?"



"Touch me." Nat just quirked a brow and crossed his arms over his chest. He waited for Tucker to say more but when his little brother shut tight as a clam, he shook his head and walked to his closet. He pulled out a clean pair of jeans, one of his nicer, more comfortable shirts and some combat boots. While he dressed, Tuck watched him. Nat knew what his brother wanted but it seemed Tuck was too stuck up to ask for it. He guessed he had been too for the last few years. After his socks were on, he rolled up his shirt sleeve and motioned Tucker over. Tuck came out of the bed and straight to his side.



"I thought you didn\'t want me to touch you," Nat said when his brother looked pointedly at his wrist. Tuck grumbled something and dragged Nat\'s wrist to his lips. Without Nat actually having to tell him this time, he licked the skin, used his will and then bit down. Tuck shuttered and held fast to Nat\'s arm, making sure it wouldn\'t go anywhere. Nat just stood in front of his closet door and watched Tucker intently. After a few long minutes, Nat told Tucker to stop and Tucker pulled back, holding himself above the wound long enough to come to his senses and then he licked the twin holes. When he stood straight up and wiped his lips, Nat nodded. "Getting better."



"Hn." Tucker walked away and went back to the bed, climbing onto it to sit there. He pulled something out from under his pillow. A knife, and started playing with it. "What happened to you last night?"



"What?"



"You came in like a bat out of hell and left in a huff. When I went to speak, you just growled at me." Nat pulled on his boots and walked to the bed where he sat down and started lacing them. He couldn\'t ignore the question but he didn\'t exactly want to talk about it yet. Although, if he didn\'t Tucker would never let the subject drop.



"There are some things that I don\'t want to talk about Tucker, and that is one of them right now. However, if it is imperative you know, tell me now." Tuck seemed to think about it but shook his head, realized Nat couldn\'t see and said no. "Good. Get dressed, I have some place I want to show you tonight." Tuck got up and puttered around until he came back, dressed. "Jack is meeting us there. Try not challenging him yea?" Tuck just nodded and they left the room.



Tucker followed his older brother, so close that Nat thought he might be trying to get a ride or something, but Tucker was so close to keep from reaching out to the Agency employees bustling about the house and the few resident non-humans other than themselves. Once they reached the hidden elevator, Nat punched in his code and waited. When the coast was clear, he hit a little green button and the doors slid open. Tucker stared, jaw dropped as Nat stepped in. It took Nathaniel pulling him into the elevator to get him to snap out of his stupor.



The five minute elevator ride was had in silence. Not that it was uncomfortable. Nat just stood by the back of the elevator, facing it. Tucker frowned as the elevator stopped. He waited for the door to open but it didn\'t. When he heard a bing, he turned and saw the back of the elevator had opened. He frowned again. What the hell?



"It\'s a training room built under the house Tucker." Apparently Nat had noticed his confusion and volunteered the answer.



"Why are we here?" Nat shook his head but started walking again and when the rounded a corner, Tucker had to ball his fists to keep from jumping out.



"Oh, I didn\'t know you were going to be here."



"Jack sent for me."



"Jack what?" Jack came from the weapons room holding a few throwing knives. "Oh, you\'re here. Good. Let\'s get started shall we?"



"What are we doing and what is he doing here? I have a hard enough time trying to keep from attacking Jill."



"Tuck, this is Mackenzie. Mackenzie, this is my brother Tucker, you\'re new pupil." Tuck\'s mouth dropped and he pointed, starting to stammer. Mack just chuckled and nodded. "Tuck, go over there and meet the man would you? Just don\'t touch him. You wouldn\'t live to regret it." Looking from his older brother to the man named Mackenzie, Tucker muttered a few choice curses and walked over, hands moving to his pockets. While he was preoccupied, Nat turned to Jack. "Ready?"



"The question isn\'t for me Nat. Come on boy, let\'s see what\' you\'ve got." Jack started walking to the mats that were behind the weapons room with Nat in-tow. Mack watched them walk and looked to Tucker.



"I don\'t know about you but this is going to be interesting and I want to watch." The man turned and followed after the two vampires. Tuck just shook his head, telling himself he didn\'t want to know, and followed behind. When Tuck arrived, Jack had taken off his shirt and was holding a sword that made Duncun McKloud\'s look like a toothpick. Mac had taken a front row seat...all the way on the other side of the room. Somehow, Tuck got the feeling that would be a good idea so he joined the man, attention fully on the fight. When Nat pulled out a sword, Tucker thought he was going to laugh.



Jack was huge. Plain and simple. Nat was enough buff to be called manly. He had defined pecks, an eight pack of abs and arms big enough to be considered too big. But Jack. He was a whole different ball game. The man was built like a brick-shit house! There weren\'t really defined muscles unless you counted his chest and arms but with one look, Tucker knew that his gut wasn\'t fat. Hell, there wasn\'t even over hang.



Raising his sword just slightly, Nat saluted his sire and Jack returned the gesture. That was about as nice as the fight got. The clang and clash of metal sent chills down Tuckers spine. They were using enough force to create large sparks but neither of them seemed to care. It was apparent though, part way through the fight, who the superior swordsman was. Nat, for all of his defending, couldn\'t seem to stop all of the attacks wrought by Jack and yet Jack blocked or parried all of Nat\'s. Why were they using swords though? Guns were faster and more efficient. His thoughts were grabbed when Nat went flying to where he\'d been standing before relocating.



Nat turned his body and landed in a crouch, sword at the ready. He sprang at Jack who just grinned and caught him again, and again, sent him flying. Tucker watched in fascination but when he looked over to Mackenzie, he noticed the man was having trouble keeping up. Were they moving fast or something? Apparently. But it wasn\'t fast enough for them to blur out from Tuck\'s sight. He mentally shrugged and went back to watching intently. Studying. It didn\'t take more than two minutes more for Nat to be disarmed and at the wrong end of Jack\'s sword. Just when Tuck thought the fight was over though, Nat did something that made him smile. He never would have pegged his brother for underhanded.



Dropping down, Nat swiped jack\'s feet out from under him, jumped astride him and proceeded to remove the sword from his sire\'s hand where he then poised it over Jack\'s throat. Jack just chuckled and patted Nat\'s thigh. Nat rolled to the side and stood, handing Jack back his sword. jack took it and looked at Tuck and Mackenzie. "You\'re wasting moonlight gentlemen." Tuck went to say something but he was shut up by Nat\'s pointed glare. Mumbling a few words, he headed out with Mackenzie at his back. Looking back to Jack, Nat quirked a brow.



"Why did you tell them to leave?"



"I don\'t want your brother to see me hand your ass to you."



"Oh, how thoughtful." The sarcasm just oozed from his pores like molasses. Grabbing up his sword, Nat took up position and when he started for Jack, a scream caught his attention and he changed tactics and ran to see what all the commotion was about. Tucker was holding his hand, cursing, eyes melding into pure black. Nat looked to Mackenzie who\'d taken up a defensive position. "What happened?" Mackenzie never took his eyes from Tucker but answered.



"He touched me." Nat looked back to Tucker and put down his sword. Tucker\'s eyes darted to him and then behind him, then back to Mac.



"Tucker, calm down bro." Tucker didn\'t seem to be hearing him. His eyes were still clouding over. Nat reached out and grabbed a hold of his brother, holding onto his shoulders. "Tuck, listen to me." He gave his brother a little shake. Tuck blinked and looked up. His eyes were fully black now but he seemed to be paying attention. "I told you not to touch Mackenzie. Why did you?"



"What the hell is he Nat?! Look at what the fuck happened to my hand!" Tuck brought his hand up so Nat could see. It looked like a high level acid had been used on his hand. To a vampire, Mackenzie was acid. Nat sighed and shook his head.



"If you would have listened, you wouldn\'t be in the position."



"What is he Nat?"



"Mackenzie is a shaman. Or, a healer for short. His skin is a catalyst for healing magic. Since we are undead, it\'s just like poison or acid to us. Healing is for living where as killing is for dead. Get it Tuck?"



"Wait a minute, you\'re having me fight a humie?"



"He\'s not human Tucker. He\'s a magical being granted immortality at his birth. You can\'t kill him. Well, you could but you aren\'t going to."



"Why not? He burned my hand Nat!"



"I told you not to touch him." Tucker cursed but looked at Mackenzie.



"Thanks for warning me you pansy."



"If you listened instead of ignoring, you wouldn\'t be in this position vampire."



"Come over here and say that!" When Mackenzie started over, Nat had to use a little more force to keep Tucker in place.



"And another thing Tucker, don\'t challenge beings who could beat you into a pancake, yea?" Nat turned to look at Mackenzie who was a short distance away. "Now Tuck, I\'m going to let you go. Don\'t touch his skin and try not letting his spells hit you. That is the whole point of you training with him." Mackenzie looked at Nat and sighed before pulling out some gloves and slipping them onto his hands. Tucker looked at them and then at the shaman.



"There. Now if you touch my hand again, you won\'t get burned. Now let\'s go. I\'m not on permanent loan." Nat let Tucker go and watched for a few moments as Tucker got his ass kicked, thoroughly, and then actually started paying attention to what Mackenzie was saying. Jack walked over to his side and crossed his big arms over his chest.



"Will he ever learn?"



"Did you?" Nat looked over and frowned. Jack just smiled and turned back to the fight. He didn\'t know. Did he?