Duet in Blood by J. P. Bowie

supple. But what did I care? I was still there, a slave to the monsters who would now revile me as well as defile me.
    I was a beautiful vampire, to debase and humiliate.
    “He is even more beautiful,” I overheard Tito telling one of the other wizards before bringing him in to peer at me.
    I was like a pet to them, but a pet they abused like malicious children would a stray puppy or a kitten. Their abuse went beyond the mentionable.
    DUET IN BLOOD
    J.P. Bowie
    40
     
    My only salvation during that terrible time was the young man who tended me after each visit, when my captors would leave me violated and sickened. With gentle hands, he would wash the sweat and the product of their vileness from my naked flesh, and he would speak soothing words of comfort in his own tongue—a language that I quickly learned from listening to him over time.
    His name was Angelo, and I told him he was well named, for indeed he was an angel.
    He would smile, his pretty lips parting to reveal his small lovely teeth. They had not changed him. He was still mortal, but I knew that one day they take him to the other side, just as they had taken me from all I knew and loved so many years before. I tried to warn him, begged him to escape before my fate became his, but he would lightly laugh at my pleadings, placing his finger upon my lips to silence me.
    It was obvious they had spun him some tale of how perfectly safe he was amongst
    them, and that my ranting was not to be believed. Often I would wonder just what it was he thought was happening there, and why I was chained and kept only for their pleasure. It was not long before his caring and tenderness made me love him, even though I could never tell him of it. If my captors ever guessed, they would forbid his visits, and I would be left to lie in my own filth until their needs necessitated my cleanliness. But Angelo sensed my feelings for him, and his soothing hands became instruments of pleasure, caressing my naked body while his mouth lent its own magic, bringing me an ecstasy that I deluded myself into thinking was happiness.
    Of course, eventually the monsters discovered our secret, and Angelo, despite trying to cling to me, was dragged from my cell. When next I saw him, they had changed him and branded him with the identical devilish mark they had scarred me with years before. But his punishment did not match mine. He came to me, tears flooding his eyes, to tell me that he was being taken to another of their strongholds to learn the way of the Dark Arts. He was to be one of them.
    As the deep sleep began to take me away, I pushed all those tormenting thoughts of the past to the back of my mind.
    It was the present I lived for, and I smiled at the thought that when I awoke, there would be only a few hours before I would see Micah again. Perhaps I could conjure up the dream we had shared together.
    DUET IN BLOOD
    J.P. Bowie
    41

Chapter Three
    Micah
     
    It seemed as though I had been rushing all day. From the time I’d left Joseph’s hotel, caught a bus to my apartment, showered then run the six blocks to the bookstore, I hadn’t stopped to catch a breath. For some reason, Sundays tended to be one of the busiest days in the bookstore, and this Sunday was no exception. And of course, my assistant, Alice, called in sick, like she always did on Sundays.
    “Liar,” I told her. “You’re hung over. I can hear the pain in your head from here.”
    “Sorry,” she groaned. “Ramon and I went to a party. Is Jesse there?”
    “He’s on his way. He tried to pull that shit too, but I told him I’d fire his ass if he didn’t show.”
    “Sorry,” she whined again. “Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
    Once Jesse arrived, all pissed off that I’d forced him to come in, I took a short coffee break in the back room. It gave me time to think about the wonderful night I’d spent with Joseph. God, but he was great. What a hunk—and so nice…pity about his eyes. I shivered as I considered how