Fountain of Beauty

by Meraki P. Lyhne

“They probably just want the strongest doses. I think that’s why they went after the Lords and Ladies.”

  “And now they have a King!”

  “Nol-Elakdon has a plan, that man always does.”

  “Seldon’s doses aren’t that strong. What if that makes him less valuable to them?”

  “My Prince, stop thinking about them and focus on us. We need to get to safety, and you have an entire nation of people to think about.”

  And Daniel felt incompetent again so he’d just shut up.

  * * * *

  It wasn’t often Caledon felt so out of his element. He hated feeling indecisive and impotent to do something about a problem.

  Watching Daniel run out of the hotel room with that human boy while Caledon was ordered to keep his Fountain safe, gave him mixed emotions, but he saw the point behind it. Daniel had Seldon with him, so it was going to be okay. They’d all been given their orders from Nol-Elakdon, and the Grand Council members supported it. Caledon trusted in the hierarchy and his superior Lords and Ladies abilities to make decisions. War and refuge was not Caledon’s strong suit, it was theirs.

  Marcadon paced up a cloud of dust at the empty warehouse they were squatting in. He’d been like that since they arrived. Caledon didn’t think he had anything useful to add or say, so he remained quiet as he perched in a windowsill and watched the front of the building.

  “What can we do?” Marcadon finally asked and stopped to throw out his arms as if defeated.

  Caledon drew a heavy sigh. “Nothing.”

  “We can’t just sit here! That’s my dad and Daniel out there!”

  Caledon shot to his feet. “I know! They’re my lovers, so don’t think I like this anymore than a kin would. Don’t think I don’t feel every bit as impotent as you do!”

  Marcadon looked away. “I’m sorry, My Lord, I forgot my place.”

  “Marca…” Caledon took in the slumped body language of an Incubus he had come to know as every bit as focused and determined as his dad—maybe even fiercer—and Caledon could do nothing to placate him. “I’m sorry for being snappy with you. But we have to trust in the Royal Guard to keep them safe, and we have to get you to safety, too.”

  “Me?”

  “Yes, you, you’re Daniel’s Fountain.”

  “I’ve barely been a Fountain for a week.”

  “Yet even before you accepted that position, you were the most heavily Empowered Cubus in all of the Great House. You were a Fountain long before. Other than your dad, I’m the only one subjected to Daniel’s dose enough to feed you now. You and I have to stay together. They’ll come and meet us here, this is our rendezvous point.”

  Sounds at the front made Caledon run to the window, hope and relief fluttering in his stomach, and look down onto the street. Military vehicles parked and six armed soldiers stormed into the building.

  Caledon’s stomach dropped. “Military is here.” One scenario after another rushed through Caledon’s head, and he couldn’t find one where both he and Marcadon made it out of there. He’d gladly give himself over, but there’d be no one to quell the insatiable hunger of a Fountain, and Marcadon would get very sick from the Cubi cold in a matter of hours.

  “Hide, Lord Caledon,” Marcadon said. “Element of surprise. I’ll surrender, and we kick their asses once in the narrows of the hallways where they can’t swing their weapons fast enough.”

  As good a plan as any. Caledon nodded curtly and emitted the camouflage hormone while retreating to where gusts of wind wouldn’t reveal him. Adrenaline settled in his veins and made him hyper alert.

  Seconds later, he heard the heavy footsteps of soldiers running up the stairs. The door burst open, and Marcadon turned and held up his hands.

  “What are you doing here?” a soldier demanded.

  “I—” Marcadon took a step back.

  Caledon could see him from the side and contemplated the best way to attack. He’d give anything to have his sword with him at that time. He’d slaughter the whole bunch… And then he registered that something was completely off about the soldiers’ reaction to finding the red-eyed Marcadon without glasses on.

  “What?”

  “I’m waiting for my girlfriend,” Marcadon said.

  “ID!”

  Marcadon pulled out his wallet, and a soldier snatched it from his hands.

  “Have you seen two men lurk around here? Possibly with sunglasses on? Or crazy colored contact lenses?”

  “No, I just got here,” Marcadon said.

  The soldier tossed Marcadon his wallet back and waved his hand to the others. “Move out!”

  The soldiers ran for the door, leaving it open and popped off its hydraulic arm from the force from which they’d barged through it.

  “What the hell?” Marcadon asked, lowering his arms. He pulled out his phone and stared at the screen.

  Caledon went to stand in front of him, knowing full well Marcadon couldn’t see him. “Your eyes,” he whispered.

  Marcadon jerked back a step in surprise. “It worked? What color are they?”

  “Brown. No, wait, the red is returning. Full force, now they’re red again.”

  “Holy shit.” Marcadon stared at his screen again, and Caledon saw that he’d turned the camera to selfie mode. “This could work. If I could just get it under control.”

  “Daniel has been able to do this for over a month, and he still can’t fully control it.”

  “Come on out, will you?” Marcadon whispered. “I hate talking to a camouflaged Cubus.”

  “Can’t, what if they return? You even think they might. Why else would you still be whispering?”

  “Good point,” Marcadon whispered on.

  “They’re gone.”

  Even Caledon jumped at the third voice. “Who’s there?”

  “Guard Lord Kimdon, and Guard Lady Ceridin,” the Guard Lord introduced, yet the Lady remained quiet.

  “Now what?” Marcadon asked. “We have to get out of here. This can’t be our rendezvous point anymore.”

  “We go to the new Grand House. We’ve reported that this place has been compromised.”

  “And feeding on the trip?” Caledon asked. “The two of you can’t get much strength from each other, and I have to keep the Fountain as clean as possible.”

  “We’ll hunt,” the Guard Lord said.

  “Do we have a car?” Marcadon asked.

  “Yes, Guard Lady Ceridin is getting it.”

  “Hope it has tinted windows because I’m hungry,” Marcadon said. “I can’t wait until we’re out of this town of sparkles and lights.”

  Caledon managed to quell a groan. If he’d thought Daniel was a problem to keep up with, keeping up with a Fountain had to be just as bad, and he was alone in feeding him.

  “I hope she provides,” the Guard Lord said.

  “Any news on the rest?”

  “Not yet, My Lord, I’m sorry.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  A headache thumped persistently behind Seldon’s eyes as he regained consciousness. He remembered running through the halls of the hotel. He remembered the sharp pain to his thigh and shoulder and a push powerful enough to propel him face first into a wall. Then the same groggy feeling as on the platform had taken over, and he felt about as under the weather now as he had when regaining his strength after those silicone bullets. Actually, he felt way worse since he’d passed out from whatever toxins they were laced with. On the platform, he’d managed to pull the bullet off before it had a chance to take full effect. And his left cheek hurt a bit, too.

  Seldon tried to rub his face only to discover that his arm was strapped down. Adrenaline shot through his system and momentarily lifted the fogginess enough to quickly assess the situation. He was naked and strapped down face first on a cold, smooth surface.

  “Oh, good, you’re awake.”

  Seldon turned his head as much as he could, but even his torso was strapped down. The man to whom the voice belonged finally stepped into Seldon’s li
ne of view. Uniform and all.

  “Release me!” Seldon pulled on the restraints only to find that whatever the ties were made off, even he couldn’t snap them. He tried again.

  “Yeah, steel wire reinforced Kevlar is pretty strong.” The soldier patted the straps. “Should hold even your kind.”

  “What do you want?”

  “Well, we want the prisoners of war, as you call them, back.”

  “Not my decision to make.”

  “Oh, I know. I know all about the eye color hierarchy of the Cubi.” The soldier almost spat the name of the race. “I know what you feed on.” The soldier grabbed one of Seldon’s ass cheeks hard, making Seldon growl. “And I was told you feed on men. So I figured I’d feed you.”

  Oh, shit! That bastard sounded sadistic in his intentions, and fear set in. If the guy was so inclined, he could cut…

  Seldon blocked his fear of being at the hands and mercy of a human. Well, he didn’t mind being at the hands of a human who was attracted to him, but the soldier didn’t sound like he wanted to take pleasure from Seldon’s body or even give it. The soldier had said he’d feed him, and that caused an entirely different kind of fear than from being mutilated.

  “I can’t feed from raped energy,” Seldon said, trying to mask the fear and prevent it from seeping through to his tone of voice.

  “Argh, quit cherry picking! Dosing humans is rape!” The soldier jammed a finger into Seldon’s ass, making him gasp in shock at the sudden intrusion.

  The guy was wearing a glove. Fear ramped up a notch, and Seldon focused on pushing his worst fears away. He’d heard what humans had done to Cubi in captivity during war before. They’d mutilated their organs so the Cubi couldn’t feed and then bet on how long they’d take to die from starvation.

  The guy shoved another finger in, and Seldon bit down hard enough to cause pain in his jaws while he hoped the soldier could at least enjoy it so Seldon could feed from the pure energy. The soldier didn’t waste much time on foreplay, and he felt the sting of a rushed penetration mere seconds after he’d heard the zipper.

  A chill ran up his spine, and Seldon gasped as his hope of feeding disappeared. “No, stop!”

  “Just admit you like it,” the soldier sneered and thrust to punctuate his words.

  The chill spread.

  “I can’t feed,” Seldon whispered as his muscles tensed under the onslaught of raped energy.

  “Oh, sure you can. What do you tell the humans you rape?”

  The chill spread and Seldon’s muscles began to cramp. Not even the hundred stings of the single tail were as bad as the energy from a rape would get because all the negative feelings would culminate in his body and turn to poison.

  “It’s making me sick,” Seldon tried, but there was no question about it—the soldier took pleasure in nothing other than humiliating Seldon, and whatever pleasure he got out of it covered neither lust nor physical pleasure.

  The pain spread as the energy turned to poison, and Seldon fought harder to get out of the restraints.

  He’d tried it before. He knew how it would end. What surprised him the most was that he had apparently forgotten just how painful the poison could grow. It tore screams from him long before his body went into shock, causing him to vomit all over himself and the table he was strapped to. Then his muscles cramped up, and the intensity of the pain finally rendered him consciousness.

  The last he registered was the soldier’s scornful laugh and grunts in his ear as the soldier came.

  Pain coursed through Seldon’s body as he woke up. But he registered his hands and legs being free because he’d curled into a fetal position, his muscles still cramping.

  Someone touched him, and he flinched, but he didn’t do much more because the pain in his muscles intensified, and he focused all his energy on not whimpering and thus not showing weakness. Like he had an ounce of fight left in him at that moment.

  Fear returned. What would the soldier do now? Rape him again? There’d be no way his system could flush it before he starved into aging if he was forced to endure the toxins again and not allowed doses to flush it.

  But the hands on him didn’t hurt. He pried an eye open, and Elakdon came into focus.

  “They raped you?” Elakdon asked.

  Seldon managed a nod, and he heard the King growl. A replay of all his fears during the rape came back, and he feared having been mutilated after the pain had rendered him unconscious. Everything hurt, so he couldn’t know if it was just from the rape or because the fucker decided to cut his dick off or something.

  He’d seen that. Seen Cubi caught and released to die slowly as a scare tactic and warning to others.

  The fear gripped him tighter.

  “Seldon, stop, stop.”

  “What did he do? What…”

  “I’ll look.” Elakdon hushed him gently, stroking his hair. “But I need you off the floor. Can you move?”

  Seldon tried, but pain shot through his muscles as he tried to and a scream tore from his sore throat.

  “No, okay, lie still. Try to relax.” Elakdon shuffled Seldon around a bit and lifted him to carry him. Seldon tried to relax, but being moved hurt, and he squeezed his eyes shut and tried to remain still.

  Elakdon lowered Seldon onto a cold but somewhat soft mattress. He then slipped his hands down Seldon’s body, the touch like pins and needles as they crossed the skin, but at that moment Seldon didn’t really care. He was too scared to find vital parts of himself missing or destroyed. Nimble fingers felt his crotch and that hurt. Fear closed up his throat.

  “Everything looks fine. Your cock and balls feel normal.”

  Seldon drew a deep shuddering breath in relief.

  A finger pressed into him, and that hurt even more. He gasped and whimpered.

  “Did he come in you?”

  “I don’t know. Bastard wore gloves, too, so why wouldn’t he have worn a condom?” Even talking hurt.

  “Looks and feels fine to me. It’s the poison that makes everything hurt. I’ll take it away if you want.”

  “Please, yes.” Seldon felt grateful the King would help. Doses that strong, it had to be mere hours instead of days starving.

  Elakdon slowly and carefully turned Seldon a bit. He finally registered that he was on a bunk and a thin plastic covered mattress. And he saw bars. Further thoughts and attempts to figure out where he was stopped there as pain shot through him.

  “I know,” Elakdon whispered. “I’ll go slow.”

  Seldon felt Elakdon shuffle around to shove his tongue into Seldon’s ass. Even that hurt enough for Seldon to whimper and grab the edges of the mattress. A hand pushed at his, and he opened his eyes to find Geodin on the other side of the bars, naked, and with a soothing yet sad smile on her face.

  Elakdon sat up. “He didn’t come in you, luckily.” Elakdon then settled over Seldon and slowly pushed into him. The pain was unbearable, and Seldon scurried around to escape it, but the King was at least twice as strong, and he easily kept Seldon on the mattress.

  “Ready for the real pain?” Elakdon asked.

  “Oh, fuck,” Seldon whimpered. He then felt the dose release, and it left fire in its wake as it attacked the poison that had spread in all of Seldon’s muscles. He couldn’t hold back his screams, and Elakdon held him firm while he writhed under the onslaught of the dose neutralizing the poison.

  A stray thought made it through the pain. How Daniel would have measured Elias’ punishment, had the boy known the pain a normal Cubus went through if they raped or were raped.

  Seldon’s body went into convulsions, he threw up again, and then he passed out.

  * * * *

  Daniel sat on the edge of Aaron’s bed in his and his mom’s small apartment, rocking himself. Thank God he’d fed thoroughly before they had to flee, but it was almost three in the morning, and the first signs of hunger had prickled more and more intensely the past hour. Even Levidon was beginning to move like he wanted the friction from clothes to help
soothe his itch.

  “I’ve been in contact with the other Guard Lords and Ladies. You need to put out a misleading Facebook update.”

  “Like what?” Daniel could barely think straight.

  “Uhm, something like…first day on new job sucked, got stiffed by a customer,” Aaron said.

  Daniel pulled out his phone and punched in the message. He looked up his mom’s profile, and she’d shared an old photo of her and Bill and thanked everybody for coming to the funeral. She hadn’t shared anything since.

  Levidon’s phone went off and he answered it, speaking briefly in Cubi. He hung up and looked at Daniel. “A car will pick us in about an hour. Your Untouchable friend should pack up. And for us not to be a danger to him, we need to feed.”

  “How about I just don’t go.”

  Levidon stood and turned to pin Aaron against the wall with bright glowing eyes. “You can identify our Prince, you will either come with us, or I will secure our Prince by any means necessary!”

  Aaron gasped. “Jeez!”

  Daniel stayed quiet because this was his Guard Lord’s job. He already knew he was useless in the situation, and he had to trust him.

  “Pack your bag, now.” Levidon kept staring at Aaron who finally sidestepped the three feet of space he had before he bolted toward his closet and pulled a bag down.

  He turned to look at Daniel. “How much do I pack?”

  “One bag of what you don’t want to part with. We’ll figure out stuff with clothes later.”

  “You’re going to think me weird.”

  Daniel smiled. “I wear makeup as often as possible, do you think me weird?”

  Aaron lit up. “No!” He then opened his closet and pulled out three sets of stiletto boots. Okay, Daniel thought him a bit weird, but he was curious.

  “Why stilettoes? What do they do?”

  “My ass when I dance. Trust me.” Aaron put his shoes in the bag, ran to his bathroom and packed something, and then ran around the room plucking stuff from the shelves. Levidon stood in the middle of the room and followed Aaron’s every move.

  “Done,” Aaron finally said. “I should write my mom a note.”