Evil Is a Man

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

If you like what you're reading, let me know: SellarDhor@gmail.com. And let me know where you want the story to go and who you want Jake to end up with. And if you have any ideas for the future, let me know, I might include them.

JUNE 13th

"Wood!"

I woke up, still in that horrible tree platform, but with the bright, hot sun shining on me.

Yash, the tree man, was looking down at my naked body. He seemed to be looking at me in the sunlight for the first time, and not seeming to like what he was seeing.

"Wood."

He waved his hand, and little pieces of wood and other plant parts came flying up towards us. I watched in shock as all the wood pieces started to attack my left leg.

"What are you doing to me? Stop!"

But I realized he wasn't attacking me at all. He was surrounding my skin in wood.

"You're making me like you, aren't you?" I asked.

"Wood!"

It wasn't like I had some alternate place to go, because if I had, I would have gone there hours ago. So, I jut had to watch as he took every part of my body and covered it with a layer of wood.

And then he used the leaves on me to make green hair. I didn't need a mirror to know I must look absolutely ridiculous.

He looked down at me when he was done.

"Wood!" he said happily.

Him looking at my new form made him dangerously hard and leaking.

I tried to fight back, but he used the branches to hold me down.

"I am not one of your trees that you can rape and feed from as you please without ever hurting them! I am not a tree, I am a man, and you are hurting me!"

He didn't care, he just forced his wood-covered, huge erection into me, re-cutting my chute and even creating more injuries than last time. The pain was unbelievable.

He bit into my throat and drank my blood again too. I screamed and screamed, but he forced vines into my mouth, keeping me silent.

Once again, the rape seemed to last forever. Only when he had exploded and sealed my neck wound that he brought us back down to earth, walking to the stream.

He stepped in the water and started to drink.

"I cannot survive on sap and water, Yash. My bag is filled with food, and it's right over there. Please, let me get it."

I showed him a motion that I needed to eat.

He followed me to my pack, and I started to go through it, showing him the trail mix I had in there.

And then, as soon as he looked away at another attractive looking tree, I got my matches out and lit a one up.

"Look!"

When he turned to look at me, I had a towel on fire. He looked alarmed.

"Wood!" he said, fearfully.

"That's right, Yash! If you don't leave me alone right now, I'm going to burn down this whole forest!"

"Wood!"

"Don't test me! Do you want all of your tree friends burnt to a crisp again?"

"Wood!"

He ran off away from me.

"And you'd better not come back, you hear me!?"

After a time, all the wood that was sticking to me came off and flew into the direction he had been running.

I put out my towel, got dressed, and quickly left.

As soon as I got to Mahal Aranya, I made my way to Devanshi. She was being guarded by Sajan, but her mother was nowhere to be found.

"Did you find my father?" she asked me.

"Let's just say there's nothing left there worth retrieving, Your Grace."

"That's okay, Jake. I honestly barely knew him at all."

"Do I have your permission to steal your guard away?"

"Of course."

I took Sajan back to my place.

"Ma'am, you were missed while you were gone. So, Ma'am, it sounds like you didn't find anything. ."

It amazed me that he couldn't understand the subtleties of the conversation I had with Devanshi at all.

"No, that's not what I told Her Grace. I found him, but there was nothing left of him. He was a total mess. Even if we brought him back here, he is so insane, Vivek would have him permanently committed anyway and he would keep his position, without anyone here batting an eye."

"Oh my, you're bleeding, aren't you?" he asked. "What did that monster do to you?"

"He did this." I pulled down my pants and showed him.

"Did that man rape you, Ma'am?"

"Yes, he did. Will you please heal me?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

He bit into himself and poured the blood into my chute. I felt my wounds tingle and heal, the pain leaving.

"Thanks."

"Will you give me permission to hunt that man down and kill him for raping you? He deserves it, and it's fully within the law, Ma'am."

I wasn't sure which one of them would survive the fight. Sajan was older, but Yash's special power was a lot more deadly out in the jungle. "No, absolutely not, Sajan. Just leave him. It's too dangerous out there for anyone who tries to take him down, and he is all alone out there and won't do any damage. Just don't let anyone else go hiking through the forest, is that clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"And that concludes my lesson on Roman Gladiators," I said. "Ladies, how does this new knowledge make you feel?"

Jagger looked at me. "As riveting as that lesson was, my opinion of the forced death games for criminals hasn't changed any since I had two back to back matches in the Animal Spectacle. Somehow, getting almost strangled while the whole city cheered on my strangler just has more of a lasting impact."

"As did my less than lovely encounter with Lick-Lick in the fight I was literally thrown into. I suppose my question was really directed towards Her Grace."

"Me?" Devanshi asked. "Nobody ever wants my opinion."

"We want your opinion, Your Grace," said Jagger.

"Though, according to your mother, at least, the two of us ARE nobodies, so I suppose nothing has changed." I laughed.

"My opinion is..." her voice trailed off, as she clearly was lost in thought. "As much as my mother has hated me for this, I've never liked the Animal Spectacle one bit. I always found it cruel. And now that we are learning about all these other cultures, I believe we should develop a prison system that holds and helps correct prisoners who aren't totally beyond help, like Lick-Lick. And for those like Lick- Lick, I don't believe their deaths should be a form of entertainment."

"Brilliant opinion, My Grace," I said. "I'd love to hear your opinions in my lessons much more frequently than I have been, in fact. Okay, so now that we know what needs to be done, how do we make this a reality?"

Devanshi opened the door and found a guard. "If she's not busy, could you have Salahakara Farhat join us?"

Two hours later, we were in the Hall of Laws in the palace. If this was a courtroom, Devanshi was in its place of honor, a judge seated in the front of the hall on a raised platform, Sajan at her side guarding her. All the heads of the Great Houses, all women, were seated together in a jury like box, with Chunni's spot clearly the most important. In the crowd sat me, Jagger, and a whole lot of other folks.

Halah was the only one standing. "We are here today because Her Grace would like to remove old laws and write some new ones. We will all hear what Her Grace is proposing, after which point, any dissenting opinions of the Great Houses will be heard. And then the Great House Leads and Her Grace will vote whether or not to change the laws. Old law changes like this don't just require majority vote. Actually, in order for the changes to take place, all but three people must agree to it. If it fails to pass, no similar law change can be requested again until a year has passed. As a reminder, Her Grace's vote counts as two houses."

I frowned, because it meant that these people could pass new laws that Devanshi was opposed to because her two votes alone wouldn't be able to stop them.

"Your Grace, please tell us the changes you request."

"Me? You want, me, me to say it?"

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Oh, well, okay." Her voice started to tremble. "Um, let's see. I guess the bulk of this is that I propose that the Animal Spectacle be, umm. Well. Re-removed. Made illegal."

"What?!" asked Chunni.

"Now what a second, Lady Menon," said Halah. "Please hold off your comments until after Her Grace is done."

Devanshi wouldn't even look at her mother. She was staring into her own lap. "Right, um... I suggest we ban the Spectacle, and refuse to force criminals to fight each other at all. I think we should build prisons to house most of the criminals that can be rehabilitated with time. But for those who cannot be, I believe we should give them clean, easy deaths that aren't watched by the public."

"Alright, Her Grace has stated how she wants to change the law. Now, if there are any dissenting opinions, speak now."

"My opinion is entirely in the dissenting category," said Chunni.

"What a surprise," I whispered to Jagger.

"Permission to walk over and punch Lady Menon in the nose, Ma'am?"

"Permission denied. But sadly, only barely so."

"Then permission to at least give her as much bitch-face as she always gives me."

"Approved, and I will be doling out the exact same expression."

"The Animal Spectacle is a Shankar Blood tradition that goes back centuries and centuries. It's by far the most well-attended event or entertainment in the city. It brings is a huge amount of revenue, with much of the proceeds going towards civil services of the good women of this town. And it's not like we are forcing good people to fight in there."

Jagger scoffed next to me at that one.

"The only people whose lives are at risk are criminals. Most importantly, our laws here are sacred, and if we stop giving them totally public views of what happens to lawbreakers, no one will ever respect the laws. If the only repercussion these people had to face after breaking laws was either a clean, fast death or being imprisoned, get ready to say goodbye to laws. Women, get ready to be raped and murdered by the crazy men around you. That is the only thing my daughter's changes will do to you. Look, I love my daughter, but she is young and naïve with much of these issues. Please don't go along with what's being suggested."

"Do any of the other women of the Great Houses have dissenting opinions with Her Grace? No? Alright then, we will vote. Your Grace?"

"I vote yes."

"Which counts as two votes," Halah marked this down. "Lady Menon?"

"No."

"It's one to two, then," said Halah.

The woman sitting next voted with Devanshi.

After everyone voted, it didn't matter that the majority of women voted with Devanshi. Chunni and three other women voted against the law, and therefore, Halah announced it would not be changing.

As everyone left the hall, what had been barely there before, Devanshi's self-confidence, seemed to be shattered. She sat there in a daze.

"Devanshi, I am worried you are letting outside influences manipulate you into making changes that seem good on first glance but on closer inspection are really only designed to help themselves. I am going to try and be around you much more than before, is that clear?"

"Yes, Mother."

The two of them left, followed by Sajan, and Jagger put her arm around me, consoling both of us on that loss.

"Hello, Miss Mana."

"Ah, yes. Hello, Miss Groves. Hope there aren't any hard feeling after, well..."

"You tried to kill me in the Animal Spectacle? Not at all, Miss Mana, not at all. Water under the bridge."

"Oh, excellent. And you aren't here to argue with me or anything?"

"Nope, I'm just here to inquire about your services."

"Excellent."

"Listen, is there any sort of rules set up where someone could, you know, take a convict out of here?"

"There is only one way that happens, Miss Groves. Sometimes, women will pay to have a convict for a twenty-four hour period to please them sexually under armed guard to make sure they don't hurt the women or escape."

"Yes, that's perfect. I want that."

"The only limitation is that the convict be a winner of a match here."

"That's perfect. The one I'm interested in is a winner."

"His name?"

"Kush Poddar."

She looked up at me. "Are you sure you have that right?"

"Yes."

"But he is hardly a champion. No other women have shown the slightest bit of interest."

"He won his only match. That will do for me."

"Listen, since he got here, Kush has been the personal plaything and blood supply of Lick-Lick. Removing him could make our star angry. I'd suggest taking Lick-Lick instead."

"That's one of the most disgusting offers I've ever considered. Nope, I'll take Kush."

"Are you sure there isn't some other champion you'd be interested in?"

"No, my mind is set. Kush it is."

"Well, alright."

I opened my wallet. "How much do I owe you?"

"Hello, Ma'am," said Sajan, who found me in the hall of the palace. "Miss Mana tells me you've ordered one of the Animal Spectacle vampires to pleasure you for a day in your apartment, and I should alert the guard here to be expecting him."

"Oh, how very quick she was to notify you. What a wonderfully proactive woman she is. Yes, I did pay for that. Why don't you come into my room where we can talk in private?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

We both went into my apartment.

"You're not mad about this, Sajan? "

"Mad? Why would I be mad, Ma'am?"

"Not jealous?"

"How could I be jealous when I've been told constantly that even if I married a woman, the only one who would ever me monogamous is me, Ma'am?"

"I know it's not normal, but if I ever did marry you, I would be monogamous Sajan. But I'm not looking to get married for a long time, and I can't say right now whether or not it will be to you."

"That's a very sweet idea to put in my head, in any case, Ma'am. But I think you should do what you are desiring to do. And I actually think one of these Spectacle champions will be able to please you better than I can, sexually."

"And why is that?"

"Well, Ma'am, I've noticed something about you. There's something unorthodox about your sexual desires, something that must come from you being an outsider here. You seem to have, well, a very bizarre fetish for a woman."

"Which is?"

"Well Ma'am, you seem to have a strange desire to touch and be touched by large penises."

"I suppose that's true. What does that have to do with this?"

"Because, Ma'am, the champion you've selected will be able to please you in that department way more than I ever will."

"But you are just as large as he is, if not bigger."

"No. I'm the one with the good vampire eyes, and I know he is bigger than me, Ma'am."

"I've seen him up close, Sajan, and you are still bigger, believe me."

"Well, Ma'am, size isn't worth debating over because it's not the issue."

"What do you mean?"

"A convict at any size will be able to satisfy you more than I can, Ma'am. Are you following me?"

"Oh, I think so. You are saying that I can do things with a convict that would be illegal for you to do."

"Yes, Ma'am. Since the convict's punishment really cannot get any worse, any laws they break at this point don't really have any meaning. And so, the one you paid for will be able to please you so much better than I ever will without getting in trouble. I only insist that you let me personally be here to guard you from the convict's harm the whole time, right by your side. I'll ask Her Grace to assign me to you, Ma'am."

"Why couldn't you wait outside my room? Why do you have to be in my room, watching?"

"Ma'am, someone needs to be in your room to keep this psycho from killing you. Waiting outside is not acceptable."

"Why does it have to be you? Can't you assign another guard?"

"I would, Ma'am, but not only do I not trust the ability of any other guard to defend you better than I can, I am also worried about being discreet. You see, people here aren't used to women having these sorts of sex lives. If they knew what was happening, they are supposed to keep that to themselves. But vampire males are notoriously hard to control, and I frankly don't trust anyone but myself to keep it quiet."

"And so, having to watch me have sex with a convict, that wouldn't upset you, Sajan?"

"I told you, Ma'am, I am happy for you and your sexual pleasure."

"Sajan, I know that's what your logic is telling you. But I am ordering you to tell me not what is in your head, but what is in your heart. I am ordering you to be totally candid, here. If you were watching me have sex with a convict, would you be feeling turned on? Pleased? Or Jealous?"

"Are you sure you need me to answer this, Ma'am?"

"Yes!"

"In all honesty, I would be jealous, Ma'am. It is a very possessive, male emotion, and I'm sorry about that. But it would not keep me from doing my job, Ma'am. Which is good, because Lick-Lick is a killing machine, and you need me to keep him at bay. Keep in mind that for us vampires, topping and feeding are sometimes hard to distinguish between the two."

"Eww, Lick-Lick?! I never said Lick-Lick, is that who you thought I was sleeping with?!"

"That's what Miss Mana implied when she said you had fallen for one of the vampire victors that you had scene up close and personal in the show, Ma'am. Who else could it be?"

"Lick-Lick is disgusting, and I wouldn't willingly sleep with him even if he was the last man alive. The man I paid for was Kush Poddar."

"The one who barely scraped by with his life in the match against Lick-Lick, Ma'am? The young, pathetically weak one?"

"That's him."

"But Ma'am, you may not have noticed, but Kush is smaller than Lick-Lick in the penis department. Are you sure you want him?"

"Lick-Lick is very close to you in the size department, though I believe you are bigger. Kush is smaller than both of you, but Lick-Lick is so disgusting in all other aspects of his being, that I would never, ever want him. Ever. Please do not suggest that again."

"But why would you want someone who barely won in your bed, Ma'am?"

"Listen, I already know Kush from before. I'm the one he was convicted of raping, Sajan. That's why I am bringing him here."

"I don't understand. How could you want to sleep with someone who raped you, Ma'am?"

"I don't. I'm just telling Miss Mana that I'm sleeping with him, but I'm really not going to touch him at all."

"I'm sorry, I know I am just a stupid man, but I can't see what purpose this serves. Is this about torturing him by not letting him have sex with you when he clearly will be expecting the opposite?"

"I am doing this to test him."

"Test him, Ma'am?"

"I am going to spend a day sharing space with him as close as if we were lovers. And both of us will be naked the whole time. But if he ever touches me, I'll know he isn't capable of changing, and I'll let him die in the pits, as there is nothing I can do for him."

"He already raped you once, Ma'am. He is incapable of ever becoming a good person again. In my opinion, you should let him die."

"I'll give him that choice. But this is why I need you to leave us alone in the room together. There's no way he would try to take me if you have a spear pointed at his face the whole time."

"I am not leaving you alone with a former rapist, Ma'am!"

"But you said yourself, he is weak. I can handle him."

"He is weak for a fanged vampire. You are a human female. You are no match for even the youngest fanged vampire."

"I'll be fine."

"But Ma'am--"

"That's an order, Sajan!"

"Yes, Ma'am."

I was washing my hands in the bathroom when there when I could hear a knock from the main apartment door. "Yes?" I asked.

"Ma'am, we have your prisoner here for you," said an unfamiliar male voice.

"How wonderful to meet you, Ma'am," said a voice that I knew to be Kush. "I'm the Champion Warrior you paid for, here to make your dreams come true. And to prepare me for this, these guys even washed me for the first time since, well, ever. Which is good news for you, because I didn't think you would want to see my cock that disgustingly still had whatever body fluids were on it from the man I topped right before I was arrested, and you most certainly didn't want the thick layer of Lick-Lick's jizz and spit that was caked all over my ass and face. And they even cut away my new beard and shaved my face. No, I didn't have one of those sexy beards like this guard right here who I recognize now as the admiral, mine was all patchy and bushy and gross."

"You shut your mouth, or we'll throw you back in with Lick-Lick," said the Spectacle guard. "I'm sure he'd me more than happy to have a reunion with the new, clean version of you as well."

"Mouth is shut, please don't do that to me."

"Please bring him in."

I could hear the door open and men walking into my room. I peered through the crack in the bathroom door and noticed that Kush had handcuffs behind his back.

"Please, take off those cuffs and leave us alone, guards."

"Alone, Ma'am? That is all too dangerous. We were expecting to stay and watch all the fu--"

"—All the proceedings," cut in the second guard.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but you are dismissed. You can come retrieve him when my paid time with him has expired."

"But your safety, Ma'am."

"That's why I have the Admiral right outside. Please leave."

"Yes, Ma'am," said the guards sadly as they uncuffed Kush and left.

I finished in the bathroom and walked into the bedroom. I hadn't expected Kush to be brought here completely naked, but it occurred to me that those jerks at the Animal Spectacle probably didn't even own any clothes for their prisoners.

It was the first time I had been close up standing to Kush that I could remember, and I realized he was on the short size for a vampire male, perhaps 5'8" or so. He was a good bit shorter than Sajan, though Kush too had that vampire muscle (though proportionally smaller to his height). He had a handsome, Indian face, though not as handsome as Sajan. And his dick wasn't as big as Sajan's was, but he still had a nice piece of equipment. If Sajan and Kush had had their bodies reversed when I met them, I still would have ended up with Sajan, even with Kush's less appealing body, because of his strength of character.

Kush was standing there with his back to me, looking down at his dick. I realized he was playing with himself. "What are you doing that for?" I asked him.

"I have to. I haven't blown a load for over ten years. Ever since I've been arrested, they've had these stupid cuffs on me except for when I was fighting to stay alive in the Spectacle match. If they had cuffed me in the front I would have been able to jack off, but with them behind me, I just could never manage to. I am insanely horny, and now that I'm free, I'm jerking off."

"You stop that right now."

Kush looked at me in the face for the first time and gasped. "I can't believe it's you. I thought I recognized that voice from somewhere. Something tells me I'm not in for a night of sexual bliss ahead of me."

"That's very shrewd of you."

He suddenly pounced on me, biting into my arm. I felt the annoyingly familiar feeling of that Shankar Blood paralysis venom hit me.

Kush threw me on the bed and tore off all my clothes.

"You are a fucking idiot, leaving a maniac like me alone and uncuffed. I am going to finish where I left off before and flood your insides with my cum. And as soon as I finish, I'm going to rip your pretty body into pieces.

He had positioned my body and the very edge of my bed, and my left arm was dangling off the mattress with my hand right at the handle of my loaded handgun. I focused on breaking through his weak paralysis venom.

I grabbed the gun and pulled it up into his temple.

And I swore I saw him smile.

"Boom," I said, instead of clicking the trigger. "Why do you want me to kill you so much?"

"I am nothing but a horrible, dangerous animal. Killing me is the only way to save yourself."

"You just don't want to go back to the Spectacle where your next match against Lick-Lick will have all of the wild cards removed, won't it? A clean match, in which he will eviscerate you painfully, in front of a huge crowd? Well, you're the one who raped me, remember? I don't owe you a thing, and killing you like this would be doing you such a great favor."

"You're wrong. I am a monster."

"If that's true, then go ahead and start pulling me apart piece by piece, as you threatened."

He grabbed my hand and started to pull it. "Can't you see I will?"

"You pretend to be some hardened killer, but I can see right through you. You've never once killed anyone, have you?"

"There's a first time for everything. You know I'm disturbed enough to violently attack and rape you, so I must have the soul of a killer inside me too, just waiting to be let loose."

"Then go ahead and let's see that killer do as he pleases with me."

Kush looked at me with an insane gaze as he pulled my arm so hard, it hurt.

But then the look passed as he dropped my arm and looked away from me, totally defeated.

I grabbed the gun, and went around the apartment looking for anything that a vampire might have been able to kill himself with. I handed all of it to Sajan outside the door, and then shut the door again, telling him to lock us in from the inside.

"I promise you one thing. There's no way you are losing your life while you are in my care here for the day. So you can drop the tough guy routine and just be yourself."

He still wouldn't look me in the eye. "What do you want to hear from me? How horrible I am at being a villain, and how much I cry myself to sleep every night after Lick-Lick has finished playing with me and has fallen asleep? How every second of every day I wish I could go back and keep myself from ever raping you?"

"I believe you, because your life ever since you raped me has been a living hell. But I'm sick of hearing about how unhappy you are. I'm the one you raped, remember? I'm the victim here, not you. And you need to be sorry for what you did even if you had never gotten caught for it."

He looked into my eyes again, this time his eyes misting. "I know I don't have an anus, as so there's no sexual assault that can be done to me that is even close to the severity of what I did to you, but even without that, Lick-Lick has over and over used my buttcheeks to get himself off on, our bite me with paralysis so he can screw my face without me being able to fight him off. Every time he assaults me, I sit there, feeling like time has stopped. And I think only of how horrible it was to be your Lick-Lick, how unfair I treated you, and how I owe you my life."

I tried not to get choked up too. "I believe, you, Kush. But I still don't know if I trust you not to hurt me. Which is why I paid for you for a day."

"It is?"

"I want you and I to stay together and sleep in the same bed tonight for a whole day. If you can keep yourself from touching me through the whole time, I'll believe you've really changed."

"Can I pick out some clothes for myself from your things?" he asked.

"I don't have anything for you."

"Can I at least wear a towel?"

"No, I want you naked the whole time."

"Oh. But you won't be wearing THAT that whole time, will you?"

"I will be just like this."

I lay face down on the bed, with him backing over to his side, looking at me.

"It's very difficult to look at you when you are in THAT position. Can I look away?"

"I want you to be looking at me the whole time, and stroking yourself. I figure that will make you the most horny."

"This would be much, much easier for me if you let me jack off right now, before any of this starts. It's been so long since I've gotten off, and I have needs as a male vampire."

"No. You will not get off while you are here, is that understood?"

"Yes."

It didn't take him long at all to get hard looking at my butt. He started to play with his hard dick, angry precum flying everywhere.

JUNE 14th

"Kush Poddar, you passed my test by going a whole day without ever touching me."

"See? I have grown. I am a new man."

"Did I ever tell you I was the One, Kush?"

"No. What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that I have magic powers inside me. And if you ever, ever touch anyone ever again in the least bit unwanted way, I want you to know, I will use my magic powers to destroy you. Is that clear?"

"Totally clear."

"Your Grace, I'm here with Miss Mana because I wanted to ask you to release prisoner and Spectacle Animal Kush Poddar."

"What crime did he commit?"

"Rape, Your Grace," said Miss Mana.

Devanshi looked at me. "You know I can't pardon a serious crime like that. Not without changing the law in the first place."

"Then I want to come forward and tell you, it was a case of mistaken identity, and Kush Poddar is innocent, and should be released."

"How can she be sure?" asked Miss Mana.

"Because if you look at the record of his arrest, I was the one who accused him. It was the wrong man, and he should be let free."

"Yes, Miss Mana, let him free right away. And give him enough money to pay him for his trouble, something that will get him a place in Y2. The crown will reimburse you."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Thanks so much, Your Grace," I said.

I didn't trust the Animal Spectacle, so I went there and waited until I saw Kush coming out, dressed again and with a huge wad of cash in his hands. When he saw me watching him, he came up to me and started to cry.

"I can't believe what you did for me," he said. "They told me you told them you mistakenly charged me before, asking for my release. You are my angel, Jake Groves. I owe you everything. I would die for you. Please let me at least buy you dinner or something."

"You don't need to buy me dinner."

"But I at least want to see you again. I don't have any friends here, and I want us to be friends, Jake."

"I'm sorry you're lonely, but I do not want to be friends with you. I'm sorry."

"I understand completely. If you change your mind, you know where to find me."

"All the best to you, Kush."

"Your Grace?" I asked.

"Yes?"

"I have a minor law change I'd like to propose to the Hall of Laws."

"Let's do to it today, before my mother gets back from House Menon."

"Thanks."

Soon, we were back in the Hall of Laws with the same folks there, save for Chunni. Sajan had been asked to accompany Chunni and Gangi that day, and so Devanshi had other guards looking after her.

"I call up Jake Groves to propose a law change," said Devanshi.

I stood up and went to the front. "Thanks, Your Grace. I propose that we eliminate the ban we have preventing male vampires from feeding on women. Why? Because even though on paper it seems like another law just for males, for those of us who enjoy having sexual contact with vampires males, it actually restricts our choice and our pleasure."

"But why would any woman ever desire to be bitten by a male vampire?" asked a woman.

"I talked with a special woman here in the city that is in a relationship with a woman. Her wife reported that she gets a whole lot of sexual pleasure from getting bitten by her lover. She couldn't imagine sex without it, in fact. And I knew women in the Petrov Blood, where this is not a ban, who loved getting bitten so much by vampire males, they would do anything to get it. Now, I'm not saying it shouldn't be up to us, and start having vampire men start forcing us to have them feed on us. No, I'm saying the choice and the power should stay with us women."

"Thanks, Jake," said Halah. "Let's take vote."

I was so happy when all but two votes ended up against it with one belonging to Chunni's absent seat.

That night, when Sajan came home, he bowed and said hello to me as usual, and then went into my kitchen for the fridge. He made a sound of surprise.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Nothing Ma'am, I'm out of blood packets. I didn't even realize. I must be getting dumber and dumber everyday. I'll go get more from the kitchen."

"Once again, you cut your intelligence short, Sajan. I sent the packets back myself today. It's time we made some changes."

He looked deeply sad. "I understand, Ma'am. You no longer want to see me, and so you're getting r id of my things. I'll move back into my place right away, Ma'am." He looked so sad, he seemed about to cry.

"Whoa! That is not what this is about, Sajan. I am not breaking up with you, please cancel that moving truck you probably ordered in the past five seconds and let me assure you I don't want you to move out."

He looked so elated and reassured, it was as if I had just told him Christmas wasn't cancelled after all. "Thank you, Ma'am, thank you so much for taking me back!"

"You can stop the showers of gratitude, Sajan, because I technically can't take you back if I never broke up with you."

"Yes, Ma'am. So does that mean you got rid of my blood because it was grossing you out in your kitchen? I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have done that to you. I know how much blood repulses you."

"I did not send it back because it was bothering me, though it is true that I don't like blood. Come here, Sajan. I want to tell you what I did for you today."

"Yes Ma'am." He walked into the bedroom and looked at me. "Whoa, Ma'am, you're naked under those covers, aren't you?"

"I am. And I want you to get naked too. That's an order."

"Yes, Ma'am," but his voice was trembling with uncertainty, and I could see he was shaking.

He took off his battleskirt and turban, leaving my tall, Indian man blissfully naked. I knew whenever there was uncertainty in our love life, he always filled in the gaps in his head with the worst possible scenarios, and his body language was anything but happy. He was stooped over again, his eyes moving between being clamped shut to starting at his own toes. His lovely, Indian dick wasn't the least bit excited, hanging as limply as his posture. Not to say it was any less beautiful in that form, so large and drooping as it was.

I pat the bed beside me, and he took the slowest, most circuitous path possible to the bed. He sat down beside me, and I could see his heart going out of control in his chest.

I stretched out my throat and showed it to him. "I want you to feed from me, Sajan."

"I would never do that to you, Ma'am. It's against the law and ethically wrong."

"It's no longer against the law."

"How can that be true, Ma'am?"

"I got the House of Laws to remove that one from the books today, and the change is already in effect. Male vampires can now bite females, as long as the females give their consent. And this is me giving my consent, Ma'am. That's why I sent back your blood packets. You can feed from me from now on."

"But Ma'am, I feel like I'm nothing but an atrocious little leech if I were to do that to you. I'll stay with the blood packets so I don't have to rely on taking such an essential part of your body from you on a regular basis."

"Sajan, I don't want to hear your endless excuses. I want you to feed on me right here and now, and that is very much an order."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Is there something I need to do to get your fangs out?"

"No, Ma'am." His sexy fangs extended past his brown upper lip. "But Ma'am, I never have done this before. I can't guarantee how I will react. I am just a male, after all, and have all these male urges."

"Sajan, you are one of the most in control fanged vampires I have ever known. I'm sure you will be just fine. I am ordering you to do this to me."

"But Ma'am, I think you are underestimating just how much this will hurt."

I was sick of hearing his excuses, so I pushed my throat hard against his mouth, using my hands at the same time to pull his head towards me. His words stopped as his fangs poked into my throat. There was that pain for a moment, but it passed, and the pleasure hit me, my dick hardening.

He shuddered and moaned with pleasure, and it was amazing to see. Just like Tahir, he could not handle the pleasure. I watched him go hard in a split second, and then even less time, his monstrous, brown penis started to shoot gooey whiteness all over my body.

He pulled his mouth long before he had taken more then just the slightest taste, and was left breathing hard. "I am so sorry, Ma'am! I lost control of my animalistic side completely, and now I've completely severed our relationship, I'm sure. I was never meant to feed from you!"

"Did you feel yourself losing control over your killer instinct, Sajan?" I asked, pulling back, wary.

"My instincts, yes! Look at what I've done to you! I took one sip, and ended up defiling your body with my seed without you ever giving me permission to! I am a disgusting male pig!"

"Sajan, is that really all you are complaining about? I don't care about you getting your cum on me. I've had other fanged vampires get so violent with me after they tasted my blood they could have killed me."

"Killed you, Ma'am?"

"Yes. Again, you can shoot all over me all you like, got it? I'll just consider it a compliment. And now, I order your mouth back on my throat so you can get today's fill."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He put his mouth back to my throat, and started to drink happily.

His brown, uncut stick was pouring out the white like it was a fountain, totally dousing both my naked body as well as his own I hot cream.

A minute or so later, I said, "Okay Sajan, that should be enough. Please lick me clean now."

"Yes, Ma'am." He licked my wound away.

"Sajan, have you noticed that you are still shooting?"

He nodded.

"Is that normal for you?"

"I guess so, Ma'am."

"Sajan, that one night you spent most of the night jerking off onto me, was that a bunch of different times? Like, you climaxed, went soft, and then got horny again, and then jerked off some more?"

"No Ma'am. I was just continuously jerking off without ever getting soft."

"Wait a second. You can just keep on orgamsing like this endlessly?"

"Not endlessly. I need to stroke myself, or I suppose, be feeding from you. And I need something inspiring, like looking at your butt, Ma'am."

"That is insane!"

"Insane bad? You DO want to break up with me, don't you?"

"No, insane good! Insane awesome!"

"But isn't that just like all other fanged vampires?"

"No. Most of them, even though they have a high sex drive, they still get soft and have a lull period after they orgasm."

"Oh, I figured I wasn't any different than any others, Ma'am."

"I wonder if this is a part of your Special ability, Sajan."

"Ma'am, I hope you'll never make the mistake of ever asking me to feed from you again."

"I will be doing this every day going forward, Sajan."

"But Ma'am, I've soaked us in disgusting slime. And now that I know that isn't normal, I'm more self-conscious than ever. And you are so concerned about cleanliness."

"You don't have to be so polite, Sajan. Calling me a neat freak is fine and accurate. But I don't care about the mess, this is happening from now on. We won't have you bite me unless we are in the safety of our own home. If we are staying at a friend's place or something, we will just have you bite me in the shower. And in fact, that's where I need to go right now."

I pulled him into the shower, turned it on, and started to wash both of us off happily.

"But these feedings will not end, and that's an order."

"Yes, Ma'am. I can't believe how lucky I am. I love you so much, Jake."

I kissed him, and he showed me his adoration through his kiss.

JUNE 15th

"To close my lesson for the day, there really are way too many female soldiers who made a real impact throughout human history. And they weren't always cross-dressing as well, like Hua Mulan. And they weren't only fighting because their husbands weren't there to defend their lands, like Jeanne de Danpierre, Countess de Montfort . Today, women soldiers are more common than ever."

"That's me, Ms. Groves, that's me!" said Jagger.

"Who is you?"

"I was meant to be a soldier. It's so clear now. None of the academic occupations women are supposed to be interested in ever made sense to me at all, and I'm terrible at anything artistic. I want to be a soldier. I want to defend Her Grace as a soldier. That's who I was meant to be."

"All of these jobs open to us open to a woman, and that's really what you want for yourself?" asked Devanshi.

"Yes, Your Grace. I know that was who I was meant to be."

"But it's against the law here for women to take on Men's jobs," I said.

"Let's try and get rid of that law," said Devanshi.

"Last time we tried to change a law, your mother took our plans and ripped them to pieces right in front of us." I said

"We'll just have to wait until she is not around to disrupt us," said Devanshi. "She is supposed to attend another Animal Spectacle with Gangi tomorrow afternoon. We can pass the law before she even gets back. She'll never have to know."

Part of me felt like living with Sajan was sexual torture.

I was such a dick guy. Not in that I was a jerk, but that my favorite body part to touch on a man was their dick.

Sajan had such an amazing one, yet Shankar Blood law prevented me from ever touching it. Even though I could look at the thing as much as I pleased, and I could even touch and taste his hot loads, the magic-maker that produced all of it would never be in my hands, in my mouth, or topping me.

Having to watch him walking around my apartment naked each day, his hot, brown dick soft but certainly never small, as he changed and showered, was bad enough. But having to watch him deliciously hard just as often when we were home together made me shake with unfulfilled desire.

That night, even though he was sleeping soundly beside me, I could not sleep.

I had been watching him carefully during the nights. Even though he was prone to stay up all night jerking off while looking at me, if I ordered him to sleep, he would follow my orders and sleep, which I had done that night. Everything was pointing to him being a hard sleeper, just like Syd or Maxim, the latter of which only slept well after we had sex. I had experimented for a few nights, seeing what would happen if I pushed at his chest or moved his legs around. No matter what I did to him, he seemed to stay asleep.

I once again rubbed his body all over that night, finishing at his pubes. It was the last part of him that wasn't off limits.

Looking down as his sweet meat, and having no respect at all for the stupid law that prevented me from touching him, I decided to move my hand down to the base of his dick. Goodness, did that feel good to touch, all thick and warm in my hand.

He jumped, and I jumped. Before I could do anything, he was looking down at my hand with horror. "Ahhh!" he started to scream.

I pulled my hand away.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. Please just calm down and go back to sleep."

"Sorry, Ma'am, but I can't."

He got up naked and ran for the door.

"Sajan, I order you not to leave this room! Please have some sense!"

"I'm sorry to defy you, but there are bigger things that your orders, Ma'am."

I was so upset as he walked out of the room, naked. I jumped out of bed and threw on some shorts. I ran out after him.

Before I could even catch up, he was out on the street, turning himself in to a police officer. "I broke the law by touching a woman with my penis, and I need to be arrested!"

"But I was the one who touched him!" I said to the police officer.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but that doesn't matter," said the officer, who cuffed Sajan and looked at his ID. "Sajan Devar, you are under arrest."

The officer pulled him off on his horse towards the Animal Spectacle. Knowing I would never catch them on foot, I found Sajan's horse and rode to the Spectacle myself. That was one of the longest rides of my life, as I cursed my stupidity and begged God not to punish Sajan for my mistake.

I found Miss Mana, tears pouring down my cheeks. Sajan was being held in a cell behind her. "Miss Mana, you have to let Sajan go, I am begging you. He did not do anything wrong. I was the one who grabbed him while he was asleep. I submit myself for the Spectacle in his place, just let him go free."

"He's the one who committed the crime, not you."

"Could I pay for him? There must be something I have that you need I can exchange for him."

"No amount of bartering will ever change my mind. Men, come and make him a new man!"

Two vampires with huge swords appeared.

"What are they going to do to him?! He should be fighting in the games!"

"Oh, he will. But Sajan Devar is too strong. He will kill our current stars in combat, and he will never bring in the revenue they currently do. So, we've decided to make him a comedy act."

"What are you going to do to him?"

"We are cutting off his arms right now. It'll be hilarious to watch him struggle to pick up the tools in the arena, don't you think?"

"No, you cannot do this! Sajan, fight back!"

"But I deserve this and more for defiling you and breaking the law, Ma'am."

He held out his arms, waiting for them to severe.

I cringed as they both raised their swords.

"Wait!" I turned to see a sleepy Devanshi coming towards us with a couple guards at her heel. "That's my personal guard you are about to rip the arms off!"

"There's nothing you can do to stop this, Your Grace."

"But this is listed under a minor law, and so I have the power here to pardon him."

"You can only pardon someone before they commit a crime. Not after."

"I pardoned Sajan last week permanently from the law preventing men from touching women with their penis or testicles, though he doesn't realize."

"You, you did Your Grace?" asked Sajan, perking up for the first time.

"I did." I knew she was lying and I was so thankful that she was willing to lie to help him. "Please unarrest him at once and send him home, Mana."

"Yes, Your Grace," said the woman, disappointed, and she called back her amateur amputee surgeons.

A bit later, we were naked in bed again. "Sajan, I can't believe what an idiot I am. If you want to end things with me, I understand completely."

"End things? Ma'am, you were not to blame for any of this!"

"I was the one who touched you in your sleep!"

"Which isn't against the law for you, Ma'am. It's me who thought he broke the law, not you."

As weird as the twisted logic inside Sajan's head was, in which really nothing horrible I ever did to him would ever be anything more than his fault, I knew that was not the case and I still felt horrible. I had grossly miscalculated, first that he would not wake up, when he did. And again when I figured even if he woke up, I could convince him nothing horrible had happened and he would go back to sleep, instead of having him go turn himself in. Because of my mistake, he had nearly ended up dead.

"Sajan, that smile is so large it threatens to invade and conquer all the other parts of your face."

"It does, Ma'am?" he said, putting his hands on his mouth. "Shall I put it away, then?"

"Sorry Sajan, I was just kidding. No, I don't want you to put it away. Will you tell me what makes you so happy?"

"Only a short time ago, I believed I was getting my deserved punishment by having my arms removed. And now, I know I deserve no such punishment at all, Ma'am."

"No, you don't."

"And the cherry on top of all of this is that I can now be in this bed with you, naked as you always want me to, without some part of my mind constantly thinking about keeping enough distance between us so I would never, ever touch you with my penis. And now, Ma'am, I feel like I can at once fully relax around you."

"That's right, Sajan. I can now do this without any issue," I said, grabbing onto his brown, uncut shaft, loving the silky feel of it.

He jumped.

"Sajan?"

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I know in my mind that what you are doing is no longer illegal and approved, but there's still some instinct inside me after years of conditioning that tell me that this touch is offensive and harmful to you."

"Well, I'm ordering you to get over it."

"I'll do my best, Ma'am."

"And now, I want to do this for once."

I pulled his body on top of mine, kissing his sweet lips as I pulled his soft dick into mine. The large weight of him felt so good and right against me.

"Does this position feel as heavenly to you as it does to me, Sajan?"

"More, Ma'am."

"You have work tomorrow morning, and I have taken way too much of your night already."

"I don't know how I will be able to sleep with my penis touching your perfect skin like this, Ma'am."

"I am ordering you to sleep, so you better find a way."

"Yes, Ma'am. I love you so much."

JUNE 16th

We were back in the Hall of Laws, only this time there was an absence in the Great House box where Chunni would have been.

"Will Her Grace please state the suggested law change?" asked Halah.

"I'm asking that we do away with the law that prevents women from taking on jobs that are just for men." It was incredible how different this Devanshi this was as opposed to the timid one that existed when her mother was around.

I saw Sajan raise an eyebrow.

"That way, a woman truly has the freedom to do as she pleases in life without any restrictions."

"Dissenting opinions? Anyone? Nothing? Well then, let's go into the vote. Because Lady Menon is absent, her vote will automatically be against the rule change."

"Which is too bad, because I'm almost positive she would support this issue, given how she is always supportive of women's rights. It's too bad she can't be here."

I smiled. Devanshi was very clever. No, her mother would never have agreed to that change, and that was why she had waited until she couldn't be there. But because Chunni held such sway with some of these other voters, saying she would be in favor was the right move.

We ended up with two votes against the rule change.

"The new law has passed and will go into the lawbooks immediately," said Halah.

"Ma'am, the only beneficial aspect of this pardon by Her Grace is that I can stand at any distance from you while the two of us are naked without me constantly on guard to keep myself from touching you accidentally. In my opinion, the law still has fundamental reasons for being, mainly being that sex between a man and a woman should be about pleasing the woman and focusing on her body. Since the man's penis is his primary sexual pleasure zone, it makes perfect sense to me to keep me from using it on you."

"I hear all of that, Sajan, but once again, I'm going to order you to do things that may seem strange to you and just let me lead you where I want to without hearing your concerns."

"Yes, Ma'am."

I licked all over his brown, upper body muscles, loving every manly piece of them.

I pulled down his battle skirt until just the very top of his wonderful stalk came into view. I moved down and licked his brown stalk, loving it's firmness under my lips, and licking up its flavor. He gasped.

I yanked down his skirt another inch, until the sides of his dark balls came into view on both sides of that huge stalk, and I eagerly licked at them.

I yanked down his skirt another inch, until the sides of his dark balls came into view on both sides of that huge stalk, and I fervently licked at them, rubbing their rough skin with my tongue. Even though he was just getting semi-hard, he was already leaking all over the ground. I licked away at him there before pulling down his skirt a couple more inches, getting another surprised gasp out of him as I did so. I continued to lick everything that was revealed, included half of his uncut stalk, and much more of his balls.

I pulled down the skirt again, he gasped again, and I stopped so that all was in display save for his dickhead. This meant his giant nuts were then fully in view, and I licked happily at his scrotum, relishing their flavor. And then I lipped and licked at the rim of his dickhead, then loving getting my tongue on every vein of his stalk.

He looked at me lovingly and rubbed my head with sweetness. "I never dreamed I would ever feel such pleasure as the one you are giving to me right now. I love you, Ma'am."

I was drawn to his wonderful dickhead, so I licked his goo off his pissslit, and then licked around his head, pulling back the foreskin with my tongue. I put the whole head in my mouth and sucked eagerly at his leaking precum. Soon, the stalk was pulsing with more and more blood until he was fully hard, and I started to suck him properly, hearing him hiss in surprise.

"Ma'am, I take that back. This now is the best feeling I've ever felt, not what came before."

I swallowed his head again. With my left hand, I played with his giant balls, and with my right, I held onto the base of his massive shaft, jerking the foreskin while at the same time keeping the thing in place. I dove a couple more inches, and heard him gasp in pleasure again, and I felt sweet precum splash all over the back of my mouth.

I slid a couple inches more down, until I was three quarters of the way down, and the head was in my throat. I focused on opening up my jaw muscles and doing the same to my esophagus.

He stopped my descent, pushing me off him completely.

"Sajan, what is going on?"

"I thought you might be in trouble, Ma'am. I could not believe any woman could ever fit something so large in their mouth without risking physical injury."

"I am not injured, Sajan."

"Then why weren't you saying anything, Ma'am?"

"It's a bit hard to talk when I have so, very much in my mouth all at once, Sajan."

"I cannot condone an act that prevents you from telling me when you're in trouble, Ma'am."

"What could possibly go wrong?"

"Ma'am, you could choke on it and die!"

"I am not going to choke on it. Not another word from you. Just enjoy it."

True to my order, he didn't even say an agreement.

I dove down onto him again, and resumed my previous pace.

I pushed down, and Sajan all the way inside me, as he made another hiss. I loved feeling his huge balls on my chin and his black pubes in my nose.

I pulled off of him so I could speak again. "Sajan, I want you to bite me and take your daily blood while I suck on you." When he just looked at me back in frustration, I said, "You are allowed to speak again, Sajan!"

"Ma'am, that will start making my load be unleashed. Are you sure you are prepared for that?"

"Yes!" I dove back down and started to stick him back into my throat.

"Well, Ma'am, since you are unable to speak, and you have unusually left me with only minimal requirements, I am going to take the initiative here."

He used his ability to bend his upper body in an alarming, impossible way. Without ever moving his lower body or his dick from my mouth, he bent his upper body in half so that his head was right at the tip of my hard dick.

"I figure I might as well bring every bit of pleasure to you that you will let me get away with in this experience. And before you complain that I am not feeding off you, that's exactly what I intend to do, Ma'am."

He pushed his mouth down on my dick, enveloping me with his warmth. And then I felt him bite into the base of my penis and start to drink me that way, sucking on me the whole time. I thought I might dislike him biting such a sensitive part of me, but the opposite ended up being true. His sexually charged venom set my dick on fire, and then rocked through the rest of my body in waves.

Of course, as soon as Sajan got my blood in his mouth, his orgasm started up. He just let out a quiet groan that gave away just how intense his pleasure was. I felt him absolutely gush that first shot into my mouth. And then the second came almost immediately, as did the third.

By the tenth huge shot, I was worried he would do as he had warned and choke me with his giant load. I pulled my head back so that just his head was inside me, clearing up my whole mouth and gullet for the seed, and that helped a lot. I was able to swallow it all down without choking, and continued to milk him.

At the same time, he managed to somehow move his hand around my body and stick his long fingers into me again, massaging my pleasure button. My body was going nuts in delight, and the best part was having his wonderful flesh-tube, which had been for so long the object of my unfulfilled desires, there in my hands and being worshipped my mouth. As the minutes passed, he never once relented on the pace of the orgasm, and eventually I couldn't possibly swallow anymore cream, and I pulled back, sucking in breath as he started to shoot instead all over my face.

All I had to do was keep stroking that miraculous fountain, and he kept on erupting with the power and volume of his first shots. I used his brown tube to douse my whole body in white.

And then my orgasm came too, as Sajan both tightened around my dick and pressed my prostate at the same time. My body rocked in pleasure. He eagerly took down my load before pulling back off my dick, healing the wound he had made there before any air ever hit it.

I finished pumping his dick, letting it stop shooting, and then start to go soft. I licked his softening head free of cum in appreciation.

"Sajan, you have five seconds to bend your handsome head back here where I can both enjoy it's beauty as well as plant a romantic kiss on it. And yes, that's an order!"

"Yes, Ma'am!"

He turned his bending off, and I stood up and kissed his brown lips, his black beard kissing my cheeks as I ran my fingers through his hair.

"I can't believe how incredible all of that felt for me," he said. "I love you, Ma'am."

"If you think that felt good, wait until tomorrow."

"What happens tomorrow, Ma'am?"

"Tomorrow, you will top me."

"T—top you, Ma'am?"

"That's right. I was going to have you do it tonight, but I didn't plan on you sucking me off like that. Not that I'm complaining about any of that, because it was wonderful. But unlike you, my libido needs some time to recharge, so I can't do that right now."

"Ma'am, I cannot top you. I'll hurt you. Hurting you is not appealing to me in any way."

"Sajan, I'm a well-trained bottom who has a lot of experience being topped by vampires. If you go in slowly I'll be totally fine. And it'll be the act that turns me on more than anything else."

"I feel terrible about this, Ma'am."

"I order you to stop feeling terrible about it and go to bed."

"Yes, Ma'am."

JUNE 17th

"For today's lesson, I thought we could do a field trip for a change. I wanted to take both of you into the present. But in order for this to work, I'll need both of you to wear disguises. Because they never let women walk freely in the Y Districts because of their own safety, we will either need to go through tons of red tape or just disguise ourselves. Both of you will have to pass as men. I bought some modern costumes for this to work, including two wigs and fake beards. How do you feel about participating?"

"I'm fine with it," said Devanshi.

"Me too, Ma'am," said Jagger. "At least I've pretty much already have the clothes down."

But in actuality, Jagger was much bustier than Devashi, so she had to wrap her large breasts up with cloth, and still had to wear a baggy shirt in order to pass for a man.

About an hour later, we were ready to go. Devanshi especially had enjoyed the disguise, telling us how much she looked forward to being someone else for a change. It was incredible just seeing her without the blue dress and red forehead mark on her for the first time, she seemed so much more human.

We met Asgar at the gates into District Y1.

"Officer Wali, as you can see I'm a man again," I said to him.

"I'm sorry," he said to me.

"I've brought two of my friends here to tour Y1, Officer." I gave him two male names.

"Nice to meet you, gentlemen," he said, bowing to them.

They both nodded and said hello to him in their best deep, manly voices.

"Sure, come on in," he said.

Asgar stood close behind us, but not so close he was within earshot.

"Welcome to District Y1, Ladies," I said quietly. "Keep in mind, this place was created by women."

"It stinks here," said Devanshi. And then she really got a look at the place. "Oh my god, I can't believe my beautiful city could hide such a horrifying slum."

I found Pran on the street, and introduced the boy to my friends. He showed them his missing hand and told them his whole story, just as he had done for me. Jagger was wisely keeping her words to a minimum so as not to risk discovery, but Devanshi was talking and talking to Pran, clearly on the verge of getting choked up. I could hear some of her female voice start to come through.

We said goodbye to Pran after giving him some more money.

"Ms. Groves, do I have your permission to pee my pants a little over the horror of seeing that poor boy's hand for the first time?" asked Jagger.

"Gross. No, you do not."

"Well, too late, I already did it before I asked, I'm afraid."

We went through the pitiful store there, letting them know that most of them couldn't afford to shop there.

"Teacher, do I have permission to hit on your handsome police officer friend?" asked Jagger.

"He's actually a pretty decent guy, though his sense of humor is a bit suspect. You do what you want, Jagger."

"Hello, Officer Hottie," Jagger said to Asgar.

"It's actually Officer Wali."

"Not from my perspective it's not," Jagger said.

"You can admire all you want, but you can't touch. I'm afraid I'm only attracted to women. Not just women by technicality, but women who have all their traditional female parts."

"Ah, what a pity," said Jagger, obviously frustrated.

I took them to the tower that Rasheed had been living in, renting his very room in order to show them. They looked disgusted as we made the trek upstairs.

"Welcome to the best room available in this District," I said as us and Wali all went into the horribly dingy, putrid room.

"Why are you complaining? There's a fridge and working water! It's not so bad," said Asgar.

"Let's not forget that I'm the only one here who can get bed bugs or fleas from a place like this," said Jagger.

"And no, I checked carefully already that picking ticks or bedbugs off strange parts of men's bodies is not a police officer responsibility, as much as you homosexual men seem to beg me for that."

"How much of a man must I be if I have these, Officer?" Jagger lifted her shirt off and showed him her bound breasts.

"Oh my, are those actual, real b-b-br--?"

"Breasts? The one and only. Two and only, more correctly."

"And your facial hair?"

She pulled her moustache back to show it was fake. "I'm one hundred percent woman. Does that change your refusal to help pick any parasites off my body?"

"Yes, yes, it most certainly does! I mean, yes it does, Ma'am!"

Devanshi rolled her eyes as Jagger put her shirt back down and made sure her moustache was intact. "Mr. Groves, let's get out of this hotel before we are forced to witness our friend proving her femaleness by consummating her relationship with this man here."

I laughed, and led all of them out of the building.

While Jagger and Asgar hung back and flirted with each other, Devanshi and I found one of the boys who I had met right when I first arrived in the District.

"Where is your little brother?" I asked him.

"Dead."

"Dead?! What do you mean?"

"He died not long ago of strep throat," the boy said.

"But that's curable," said Devanshi.

"It goes away easily with antibiodics," I said.

"Whatever you just said was too expensive for us to afford. A lot of people here chipped in, but we couldn't afford it. As soon as Officer Wali heard, he used most of his year's wages to buy the medicine, but it was too late to help, and he died."

The boy started to cry, and I cried right along with him. Devanshi hugged the boy and cried too. We gave him all the money we had.

"Your Grace, will you please state the law change you are requesting?"

"Please wait for me," said Chunni, showing up out of nowhere and surprising everybody.

"M-Mother! I thought you were away!"

"I came back early. Just in time to take my place, it seems."

She sat down

"Your Grace?" asked Halah. "The law?"

"R-right. Um. Well, I am trying to create a law that will ban males under eighteen from working, and establishing schools for the boys, just like the girls."

"This is madness," said Chunni. "We have important traditions to uphold here."

I stood up. "No child labor is allowed in any civilized part of the world any longer," I said.

"But she is referring to humanity. We are different from humanity."

"It the other two Bloods I've been to, child labor is illegal as well. Even in the Logan Blood, where slavery is legal, they don't allow children to be slaves. The Shankar Blood is grossly out of step with the rest of the world."

"Don't you see? This is a slippery slope. If you let the boys have schools, soon the men will be free to rape and murder us as they please."

"Time to vote," said Halah.

"For the change," said Devanshi.

"Totally against," said Chunni.

After three more women in a row sided with Devanshi, Chunni looked her daughter with daggers.

"This is the most foolish thing you've come up with yet, Daughter. If you don't stop this from happening right now, it's over between us."

"I'm sorry mother, but I have to go with my heart. I'm not stopping it."

"Then it's a new law," said Halah. "It is now public. We will pull boys out of their current jobs and put them all in public schools. We will build more of those to support this." She rushed off.

All the women started to clear out.

"You are dead to me. You hear that, Daughter?!" Chunni said.

"Mother, you can't be serious. I disagreed with your opinion, that's all."

"It's happening left and right. I warned you there would be consequences for not listening to me, and here they are. You think you are such a grown-up? Well prove it. I'm leaving. Moving back into the Menon House, and taking Gangi with me."

Devasnshi started to cry. "No, you can't leave me, Mother! Please, you and Gangi are the only family I've ever had! You can't walk out on me like that!"

"If you want me to stay, you'll legally sign away your Queen powers to me. Otherwise, I'll go."

"I just can't. I can't."

"Then you've made your choice here. And I've always been the one to design all your outfits. Don't you have the Queen's Ball coming up? Your fashion taste is atrocious. You will never get through that Ball without me, and the fashion critics will eat your Queenhood right up. And I won't be there this time to pieces."

"Sajan, will you tell me something? Are you happier now that Chunni has left the stage and left Devanshi there to rule by herself? Or do you miss Chunni?"

"Ma'am, I'm supposed to be neutral. That's a part of my job description, to just serve whomever is the Queen."

"But, I'm asking you to divulge your innermost feelings here. I won't tell anyone else, I promise."

"Still, I should not say anything, Ma'am."

"Sajan, I'm ordering you to tell me."

"Alright, Ma'am, if I must. Lady Chunni allowed me to start dating you, which has been the best gift of my life, by far."

"A gift she would have never made just days later," I said.

"You're probably right, Ma'am."

"So, does that mean you prefer Chunni in command over Devanshi?"

"Her Grace has always treated me with utmost kindness and respect. The same cannot be said of her mother, not that I would ever complain about any of it, Ma'am, because that's not in my nature."

"No, I know that, Sajan. So, the inside of you is happy that Devanshi is in power?"

"I have been around guarding Her Grace since she was a baby. She's the closest thing to my own child I ever had, Ma'am. And it makes me happy inside to see her thrive."

I smiled

"Ma'am, I talked to my sex trainer today and told her about my recent pardon and your unique request of me. She explained to me what new exact methods to try on me that would such a beloved woman as you are to me as you deserve to be."

"Oh, did she?" I asked doubtfully. "Did she teach you by showing you how?"

"No, Ma'am! Good heavens, no! Ever since we started dating, I have devoted myself to you, even though I never asked for anything in return. Unless you tell me you no longer would like any sort of romantic relationship with me, I would sooner die in the Animal Spectacle than to ever let anyone else touch me in that way. She merely described the events, I assure you. Please, I'm so excited to show you."

"Alright, if this is what makes you happy. Since I normally am the one who picks exactly what we're doing, I'll let you pick tonight."

"I hope you enjoy yourself." He kissed me sweetly. "First, Ma'am, please lay face down on the bed."

He started to give me one of his massages again, only this time, he was actually able to touch me with his huge, soft penis, which made it so much more erotic for me. He started to massage my neck, hovering over my back lightly as he did, making me feel his huge, semi-soft dickhead tingling my back, sending electrical currents there.

He finished my arms and moved to my upper back. As he moved his way down my back, the tip of his penis was pushed down as well. It grazed my tail bone, leaving a little bit of precum there. And it grazed along my crack, oozing some juice right on my hole as it went over it.

When his hands got to my butt, he used that precum to moisten his finger and push it into me. He followed his first finger with the second. When he worked three fingers inside me, I could feel his oozing dickhead pressed against my hole, and I pushed back hungrily against him. I realized he wasn't stretching his fingers in an attempt to pleasure me, he was stretching out my hole to get it ready for later. He pulled his fingers out again, making my hole hungry for more.

He moved back to my head, and licked my accessible ear. He licked from my ear down my neck, and only my shoulder. He licked all the way down to my hand, then moved to the other hand and licked upwards. He got to my neck and started to work his way down, only this time, instead of being positioned above me, so just his dickhead and his hands were one me, this time he was lying down on me, perhaps because in licking me, he needed to be physically closer to me. The result was that I close feel his semi- hard dick, so ridiculous, pushing against my lower back. As he licked down, the piece of meat scraped past my tailbone and kept going down, into my crack. His penis pushed against my hole, sending me bliss, and then kept on moving down.

Then his mouth itself reached my hole. He licked at the thing, and then dove his tongue inside, making me crazy with lust.

"At this point, Ma'am, is when I was trained to initiate topping if the woman wanted it." He rubbed my hole. "All you have to do is say the word. But again, I beg you not to do this hastily when I believe it could seriously hurt you."

"Do you promise to go slow, Sajan?" I asked.

"Your wish is my command, Ma'am. As always."

"Then yes, go ahead." I was in too much lust to tell him no.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Lube. There's lube in that drawer there. Can you put some on?"

"Of course, Ma'am."

He slathered a bunch all over his totally hard, uncut brown pole, and put some into me as well for good measure. And then he started out by kissing me sweetly, which was such a good sign that I was about to enjoy the rest of it.

He pulled away from his kiss and positioned his body on top of mine. His dickslit kissed my hole, sending a spurt of precum against me, and causing my dick to twitch beneath me.

He pressed slightly into me, sending my hole pleasure. True to his word, he pushed very, very gradually into me, and he stopped with a hiss when his whole head was inside me.

"Is something wrong, Sajan?"

"I'm afraid so, Ma'am."

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid I grossly underestimated how great this would feel for me, Ma'am. This is supposed to be about your pleasure, and here I am, in so much pleasure I can barely function."

"I order you not to feel guilty about enjoying yourself, Sajan."

"I'll try, Ma'am."

He gave me time when his whole head was in me just to get used to him. But getting just that far into me elicited huge groans of pleasure for him.

As soon as the pain had turned to pleasure, he pushed more, getting a bit more into me. And it was starting to feel more and more pleasurable for me the deeper he went.

He scraped my prostate, sending me to heaven, and his shaft made its way all the way in, his pubes hitting my tailbone and his balls against my own.

When he was all the way inside me, he let out such a moan of pleasure, it was clear he was in heaven. He kissed me so sweetly then.

"Ma'am, you cannot how good this feels to me. Can I get your permission to be honest, Ma'am?"

"Of course."

"I cannot believe how in love with you I am. This kind gift you've given me is just a tiny bit of it. I'm madly in love with you, Ma'am."

"I too feel like God has given me a gift to be with you in your arms like this," I said.

He kissed me sweetly.

He stopped just holding himself all the way in, and started to slowly thrust back and forth. That slowness built up just in time for me to get used to it, increasing pace perfectly.

He started to thrust in and out of me, rubbing my front with his strong hands and kissing my ears as he did.

Just before I was going to shoot, he spun me around so he was the one lying on the bed, with him on his back, and I was sitting on him and riding his thrusts, facing him.

He did something then that I didn't even know what possible. He used his superhuman flexibility to suck down my dick, giving me one heck of a blowjob while he continued to ride me from below.

He knew how to please me: instead of moving in and out of me in full thrusts which would have been pleasurable for him, he kept the thrusts short and focused on using his head to scrape back and forth against my prostate, absolutely massaging it. Ramming it over and over again, bring me such pleasure I was breathless.

It didn't take me long to hit my orgasm. I grabbed onto his muscles and held on with all my strength, my whole body tending as I felt the double pleasure of stimulation on both ends. I erupted, and he eagerly drank down my whole load before pulling his head back.

He pulled out of me and held me sweetly.

"Wait a second, did you come too? Inside me?"

"Come inside you, Ma'am? Good heavens, no. I would never, ever, ever do that to you. I am here to please you sexually. My own pleasure is not what this is about, Ma'am."

"Does that mean you find any of what we just did to be unpleasant? Things that you had to do as a duty to me?"

"No, no, no, no, no! I absolutely loved every second of all of it. In fact, the pleasure I got being inside you today was beyond my wildest dreams. But if there was something you asked me to do that did not bring me pleasure, I would of course do it as a part of my duty to you, Ma'am."

"Will you promise me that you will tell me if you are ever in that boat before just going ahead with it?"

"Alright, Ma'am, I promise."

JUNE 18th

Devanshi had Jagger, Sajan, and I all in her bedroom. Devanshi was in tears.

"My mother is absolutely right. I'll never get through the Queen's Ball without her. Unless either of you two can help me make my dress." She looked between Jagger and I.

"I know absolutely nothing about women's fashion," I said. "The days when I had to wear dresses here were some of the worst of my life. I felt so out of place and awkward. I have nothing to bring to the table, I'm afraid, Your Grace."

"I am just as clueless when it comes to dresses, My Grace," said Jagger. "I always just picked out my dresses at random."

"I know there will be fashion critics there, Your Grace. But who cares if you aren't dressed the best? The embarrassment will pass, believe me."

"No, you don't understand, Ms. Groves. If the fashion critics don't give me a good review, it means I will be forced to give up my queenhood for a year. That's how important being fashionable is to this city."

"That's so ridiculous! I thought your mother was just being figurative when she said the fashion critics would destroy you. I had no idea she was being literal. I guess we'll just have to add that to the list of laws we need to change here, which is so large, it soon will be hundreds of yards long in a literal sense as well, Your Grace."

"Yes, but we will have to end this to the very end of the list, I'm afraid. The House of Laws will not be easily convinced to change this requirement, as it clearly only would benefit me, and there's no example to give them of someone else being pained by that law. There must be someone either of you know that could help me with this," said Devanshi.

"I avoid dress designers as a rule, for fear they will submit me to a makeover," said Jagger. "Sorry, Your Grace."

If this was men's fashion we were talking about, I thought Maxim would have been able to help, not that I would have gone to him. "The only designer I know for women's clothes is one named Meredith in the Logan Blood. I'd suggest not trying to ask her for help unless you want to look like a trashy cowgirl. Sorry, Your Grace."

"What am I going to do, then?"

"Your Grace," said Sajan. "Will you permit me to speak?"

"Of course."

"I can remember you as a little girl, Your Grace. When your mother gave you dolls, you didn't want a million different ones like Gangi always does. You just wanted to remove the doll's dresses and put your own clothes on them that you made yourself."

"Doll dresses that I'm sure were atrocious, Sajan."

"They were lovely, Your Grace. And you have this fashion gift inside you just like your mother has."

"Sajan is right, Your Grace," I said. "You think you need your mother, but you don't."

"Sajan, there's a way that you can fit inside me with less resistance, something that's even more pleasurable than what you did last night."

"Anything, Ma'am."

"The magic trick that makes all the difference is merely to bite me. You drinking my blood makes your dick go in so much easier. I'm so glad to hear you are willing to try."

"But Ma'am, you know I cannot taste your blood without shooting, which means I cannot pleasure you this time without getting off myself. I hate the idea of that."

"You can hate it all you want, but it's an order."

"Hmm. Yes, Ma'am."

I lay on my back and pulled my legs up so my hole was in his view, which he smiled at. I let him lick away at my hole, watching the sweet delight on his face as he did it. He got out the lube, put some on his monstrous dick, and then massaged some into my hole.

His mouth went to mine as he kissed me with love, and his hard dick kissed my hole with all the same feelings. I pushed him until just the tip was barely poking inside me, loving it. But I hungered for him to be inside me so much more, I broke the kiss and forced his mouth towards my throat.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Ma'am?"

"Yes."

He bit into my throat, the pleasure hitting my body as he drained me.

My hole went numb as I pushed him far into me, feeling nothing but pleasure.

At the same time, the blood in his mouth made him moan and start to explode. I was happy that he was fully inside me at the time so his shot blasted into my chute, and not out of it.

I loved the feeling of his shots hitting my prostate so much, I pushed him more and more in so his head was right against it.

I pushed him all the way inside me, loving his balls hitting my tailbone.

I used my hands against his muscular butt to show him just how hungry I was for his thrusts. He got the picture and started to buck his hips back and forth.

He finished drinking from me, healed my wound, and then looked down at my face with love.

"Ma'am, how is it that every night, you always manage to give me the best pleasure of my life? I could never even begin to put to words how good feels."

"It feels just as good for me."

He kissed me again, and I was amazed how even when there wasn't any more blood on his lips, he was still shooting just as much as ever, proving he was a sexual superman. He kept riding me, but my chute was so filled up with his cream, it was spilling out all over both of us.

I didn't last long at all. I kissed him, tasting his sweetness as I blew my load. He stopped bucking, and just held himself sweetly inside me.

"Sajan, I've decided I want to give this apartment to you."

"Ma'am?"

"I've noticed already that even though you have your things here and you've technically been sleeping here for days, it doesn't really feel like your place. You are walking on egg shells not to disturb anything here, and barely moving in anything of yours."

"I wouldn't dream of defiling your personal space with my male presence and belongings any more than I absolutely have to in order to follow your command to stay here."

"That's why I need to give this place to you, completely. You need to get rid of your old place and move in all or your things. You need to feel absolutely at home here. And if I should choose in the future to leave, I want this place to stay in your name. I'll meet with the queen just to make sure that part goes through legally."

"But Ma'am, this apartment is much too grand for a lowly male such as me."

"I'm ordering you not to fight this, and just accept it. Do you understand?"

"I suppose so, Ma'am."

"Good."

I kissed him.

"I also understand how blessed I am you came into my life, Ma'am."

JUNE 19th

Devanshi had the House of Laws assembled for an announcement.

"Sajan, I'd like you to start up a latest round of new Royal Guard recruits," said Devanshi.

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Please let everyone in the city know that these tryouts are taking place, and to let Sajan know if they will be trying out."

"Yes, Your Grace," Halah said.

Jagger stood up. "In that case, I wanted to announce that I would be joining the tryouts for the new recruit of palace guards and soldiers, Sajan."

"She's crazy," said one old woman.

"Why would she ever want to do that?" asked another.

"Sajan, will you help Jagger like you do with all your new recruits in preparing them for the tryouts?" asked Devanshi, ignoring the looks the women were all giving poor Jagger.

"I'm sorry, Your, Your Grace. I'm sorry but I can, cannot complete that order."

"Why ever not, Sajan?"asked Devanshi.

"Because, Your Grace, she is a woman!"

"Didn't you just hear the law change we made earlier, Sajan?" asked Devanshi.

"Yes, Your Grace, but I assumed it would allow women to start taking men's jobs such as waiters or nurses. For those jobs, I can't understand why a woman would want them personally, but if they did, that's fine. But, Your Grace, this doesn't make any sense. Now, if Jagger was a Special vampire like you, then I would allow it. Or even vampire bottom who has legally become a woman but still has all of that fanged vampire strength. But this is madness."

"Your Grace?"

"Yes, Jake?" she asked.

"I too would like to join Jagger in trying out to be one of Sajan's guards."

I've never seen Sajan's face go as red with anger as it did at that moment. "Your Grace, there's no way you can allow this to happen."

"I'll allow it, and Sajan, I'm ordering you to uphold my command and this new law or I will be forced to administer punishment. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Your Grace," he said.

"Ladies, Since you are both just a bit older than me, I have something I want to show you two," said Devashi to Jagger and I. "Something weird my body is doing. Please tell me this is just another weird side effect of puberty that Mom forgot to tell me about."

"You already have my attention, Your Grace. Show us!"

Devanshi placed both of her hands in front of her, and she made a spherical movement with them. "See?"

She moved her hands away, and floating there was a small bubble.

"Is that a bubble?" I asked. "You didn't have any soap on your hands?"

"No. And the weirdest part it, see? If I push it around, it doesn't pop."

"That is most certainly not on the list of puberty's effects," said Jagger.

"Is this some Shankar Blood ability they didn't tell me?"

"No," I said. "Your Grace, I know what that is!"

"Please tell me."

"It's your Special ability kicking in!"

"Oh cool, let me see." Jagger ran towards the bubble.

"Wait, Jagger, a lot of special abilities are dangerous to others! Be careful!"

"What is to fear about a cute little bubble?"

Jagger walked up and swatted the bubble. Amazingly, the bubble went right through her body and appeared on the other side. "Your ability is to make a Ghost Bubble!" said Jagger.

"Does that happen when you touch it, Your Grace?"

"No." She poked at the bubble, and it flew in the air away from her.

Once again, Jagger moved towards it, only this time, she put the bubble into her chest, where it disappeared inside her.

"Do you feel any different?"

"Like I have a Ghost Bubble inside my chest, you mean?" she asked.

"Like that, or any other way."

"No, I feel totally normal." She moved out of the way, leaving the bubble still floating there.

I approached the bubble. I watched as it too disappear inside my chest.

"See?" Jagger asked. "You don't feel anything, do you?"

"I do not feel the bubble, but something else feels strange."

"What is it?"

"Well, I seem to have the instinctual feeling that there's some key part of me that's missing. Oh my goodness. Would both of you come to the palace stable with me?"

"Of course."

Devanshi kept the bubble inside me all the way to the stables.

"I have this sinking sensation that my magic is gone. I memorized a spell, and I would need the life-force energy of the horses to make it work."

I said the odd Sumerian-esque words of the spell that should have anesthetized me, but nothing happened. I knew well before finishing the spell that nothing would happen. And yet, the changes I had made before with my magic seemed intact.

I moved away from the bubble, and I felt something inside me recognize happily that the magic returned. "Your Grace, that little bubble is a doozy for me. Can we try it on someone else?"

Devanshi waved over one of her guards. "Can you please move into this phantom bubble and see if it has any effect on you?"

"I promise you, it won't have any permanent affects," I said.

"Sure."

The man walked into the bubble, which disappeared inside him.

"Oh, oh my god," he said.

"What is it?"

"Your Grace, I'm no longer a vampire. I'm a human. No fangs, no strength, none of my abilities. I'm just human."

"Thank you, sir, that was very brave of you. You're dismissed."

"Yes, Your Grace."

As soon as he moved away from the bubble, I could see his old vampire strength returning.

"Well, mystery solved, Your Grace."

"It is?"

"Sure," I said. "Your bubble takes away all supernatural strengths for whoever touches it. For any fanged vampire, that means they lose so much, giving them the strength of normal men. For me, since I do not have supernatural speed, strength, or durability, since everything I might give to myself would come via spell, your ability took away my ability to cast spells. For Jagger or for normal humans, your ability would have no effect."

"And why doesn't the bubble go inside her?" asked Jagger.

"Because one's special ability cannot be used to hurt oneself," said Devanshi.

JUNE 20th

Jagger and I walked together to where the Royal Guard tryouts were taking place, outside in a clearing, right on the edge between the Mahal Aranya grounds and the jungle beyond. Sajan was there with a crate of items, and so were nine other Indian vampire men who seemed to be trying out.

Sajan noticed the two of us coming into the group and called out. "Men, at guard, we have ladies in our presence!"

At once the nine men all went from looking relaxed to having a military-esque composure that Sajan always carried.

"We are here to guard these ladies today. We can resume our tryouts another time."

"That's very chivalrous of you, Sajan, but we are here to tryout," I said. "Which means you are required to teach us as if we were men. Did you completely forget the conversation we had with the queen yesterday so quickly?"

"I did not forget Ma'am. I figured you must have been joking around with me. Just more female humor that I will never be able to understand, because how could it possibly be true?"

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but this is very much a reality. We are trying out, and you are required to assist us!"

"But Ma'am," he started.

"That's an order!"

"Yes, Ma'am! Alright, potential recruits." I still noticed that he was looking at and addressing the nine men, but what could I really do? "In order to prove your worth to join the ranks of the Guard I personally oversee, you will need to prove your battle prowess in three different trials. Spear throwing, bhujmanship, and hand to hand combat. Let's begin with the first one we will be going over today."

He lifted a long spear from the crate and held it in his hand. Far away, I noticed he was facing a tree with an X painted on it. He threw it effortlessly, and the spear sailed through the air and ended up landing right in the center of the X.

"Your trial will not require such accuracy. All you will be required to do is land this spear so it is touching that X somewhere. Please, begin your practice. But, men, please be safe with your spears and keep them well away from the ladies in our presence."

He handed the nine vampire men spears.

"These spears will be yours to keep until the spear throwing trial completes. Please, develop a relationship with your spear. You must know it well in order to succeed in the spear trial."

The nine men started tossing them around, with various displays of accuracy.

"What about our spears, Sajan?" I asked.

"These spears are far too heavy for you and your lady friend to handle, I'm afraid, Ma'am. It would be dangerous for you to even handle one. I could not let you skewer yourself, Ma'am."

"I am not going to skewer myself!"

I reached over and grabbed two spears and handed one of them to Jagger. Sajan looked deathly worried at this development, but he was powerless to stop us. Sajan went instead to coach the other nine on their technique to help improve accuracy.

"Uh," said Jagger. "Did you just give me the world's heaviest spear just to mess with me?"

"I wish," I said. "My spear is just as heavy, amazingly. That's how they all are."

I threw my spear, and it was so heavy, it barely went more than ten feet before crashing down. Jagger's throw was similar.

I got frustrated watching Sajan keep helping the other nine get better and better while our throws suffered. "Sajan, we need help. What can we do to improve here?"

"Honestly, Ma'am? You could grow a vampire male's muscular arms. Because that's the only way you could possibly win this trial, Ma'am."

"Wait a second, Sajan," I said. "You didn't pick this trial just because you knew Jagger and I would fail, did you?"

He looked wounded. "Ma'am, I would never manipulate the system like that. You know me better than that. This is the exact same trial that I had to personally pass all the years ago that I took test, Ma'am."

"I'm sorry, Sajan. I did know you better than to think anything else with you. It's just my frustration talking."

"Women do not apologize to men, as they are never wrong, Ma'am."

"Well, I'm breaking the rule, then."

"Yes, Ma'am." He moved back to the other men. "Time for the next trial, Bhuj Combat. This will actually be the first elimination test we have, chronologically, followed by the Spear Throwing." Sajan grabbed the weapons out of the crate and handed them to the nine men. "Once again, this is yours to keep until your trial, and you will be using this weapon during your test."

I rolled my eyes, not wanting to argue with Sajan about how dangerous these weapons would be to us as well, and I grabbed two weapons from the crate and handed one to Jagger.

"Wow, I can actually lift this one normally," she said, and I was just as pleased.

Sajan faced all of us, a Bhuj in his hand. "Bhuj combat expertise isn't just something that can be increased by sparing with a partner. Practicing on your own is just as critical. I'm going to teach you a very important solo routine that I suggest you memorize, so you can practice as much as you can on your own."

Sajan led us through a graceful movement routine with the Bhuj that lasted a few minutes. He looked ridiculously cool doing it. We all followed along twice.

"Admiral, this is so slow," said one of the nine. "It's way more productive for us to just practice on our own."

"Yeah, can the two of us just quit this and practice, Sir?" asked a guy who was clearly his friend.

"You do what you think is appropriate," Sajan said.

Sajan kept on going over the routine for the rest of us while those two started fighting each other with their Bhuj's, soon getting blood everywhere, making me not look in their direction.

"Put away your Bhuj. The last elimination trial will be to prove your worth to join the palace guard by competing in hand to hand combat. Please pair up and start to spar. Today, I want you to focus on punching."

Jagger and I paired up, as did the rest of the others, with one group sparring with three. Sajan walked over and started giving one on one coaching advice to those who needed it.

One of vampire men suddenly fell to the floor, unmoving.

"No paralysis allowed, or biting of any kind! So keep those fangs away, fellas!"

"Sorry, Admiral."

Sajan kept on sparing with the men to help them improve, but ignored us.

"Sajan, you need to help us too!" I said.

"Ma'am, how can I help you?"

"By sparing with us like you are with the others!"

"That's why you have each other to spar with, Ma'am. It wouldn't be right for me to touch you."

"Sajan, I order you to spar with me, right now."

"But Ma'am."

"That's an order!"

"Yes, Ma'am."

I thought I had one when he raised his fists in the air and moved towards me. I started to take swings at his upper body.

"Sajan, you aren't even trying! You are just bouncing around, completely useless!"

"I'm keeping you safe, Ma'am."

"Oh, forget this. Leave us alone. Jagger, I guess it's just the two of us."

"That's one more than how I've spent most of my life, anyway," she said.

"Yes, Ma'am." Sajan left to keep helping the others.

That night, when Sajan and I were having sex, there was a subtle change in his behavior. Though he was going through the exact same motions as always, there was something different about his behavior. Though he certainly hadn't stopped being gentle, there wasn't the normal love that usually poured out of him during the sex.

"You are angry at me, aren't you, Sajan?"

"Angry? No, Ma'am."

"I can feel it in your touch, Sajan. Instead of this being about pleasuring me, tonight it's turned into you taking out your frustration on me sexually."

"Ma'am, I love you just as much as ever."

"I know that's true, but you don't have to stop loving someone to get angry at them, Sajan. Please just come out and tell me what you are feeling."

"Are you sure, Ma'am? Why would you want to hear the petty, inner feelings of a simple-minded man?"

"I'm ordering you to tell me, Sajan."

"Yes, Ma'am."

He sighed and stopped thrusting into me, instead just holding me still.

"In total honestly, Ma'am, I'm all sorts of angry that you and Ms. Kaamat are trying out to be Royal Guards. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Sajan, what is so hard about having women trying out to be guards?"

"I am here to protect you and the other women here. I would die for you in a heartbeat, Ma'am. That's my job and my honor. I cannot condone any occupation in which you or any other woman has their life in danger just to prove some ridiculous point."

"One of the points I am trying to make is that male lives shouldn't be thought of as throw away lives, while women's lives are held in such high regard."

"But that makes perfect sense to me, Ma'am! I've spent my whole life training to be an excellent fighter just so I can have the best potential to save female lives, which have always been so much more critical than my own. All I have, everything I am, is a part of that identity. If you destroy that, you risk destroying all of us guards, Ma'am. We know we are not smart enough to have all the wonderful jobs you have. Well, at least let us have this one little piece that is all our own. That's all we ask."

"I think you should start to learn women's jobs too, Sajan. You are a way smarter guy than you give yourself credit for."

"Smart guy is an oxymoron, Ma'am, and I am not going to start learning any new occupation. Maybe if I was young and just starting out, but I've devoted a lifetime to being a soldier to defend the lives of women. That is not going to change, ever."

"Well, I'm sorry you're angry, and I blame the women who created your sense of self for all this, I really do. But things are going to start to change, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."

"Well then, I'm afraid this conversation that was supposed to be about me curing my anger has only made me angrier. If you still want me to have sex with you, it's going to be like this, I'm afraid. I can't fake my feelings away entirely."

"That's fine, Sajan. Let's keep going. I can deal with this."

"Yes, Ma'am.."

And he continued to thrust.