Author's Note: And here we are, at the final chapter. It's been a wild ride. Enjoy.
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^^^
Death Game – part 9
Sunlight.
I could feel an actual bed beneath me, with sheets and blankets over me. I was naked, and a beam of sunlight streamed across my face. There were no ties or restraints on me any more.
The thought train ground to a halt. I remembered being tied up. I remembered all the men dying. I remembered the games and challenges I'd been through. The story the Host had told me he'd be putting into my head wasn't there. He hadn't tampered with my memories yet. Maybe I had a chance to escape and expose him for the monster he was before he could get away.
The bedroom I was in was decorated in red and white linens and upholstery, with light blonde wood for the hard furniture. It was really well done and looked expensive. There was a chair with my clothing folded neatly on it. On top of those was an envelope, sealed with an old timey wax stamp. I set it aside and got dressed. Draped over the back of the chair was Darren's letterman jacket. What was that about?
I opened the letter to find out what was going on.
"Dear Cameron," it said. "I forgot to congratulate you for winning. Things were a bit tense when I last saw you, so forgive me for letting that slip.
"You have truly gained an extremely long life to do with as you please. Rafael is tied to a table in the next room with another note. I think it will interest you. I took the liberty of pulling Darren's jacket out of the discarded clothing. You got a lusty look in your eye when you saw him in it. It will suit you, or whomever you give it to.
"I have also given you both a drug that will suppress the sadness and despair you will undoubtedly begin to experience. It will last the day, enough for you to make whatever decisions you need to make before the gravity of what happened to you sets in. While I know the formula to make that, I've deliberately hidden it and haven't made any more. Suppressing sorrow is very addictive, but only hurts you in the end, since the mind needs to process the emotions to move past them. Use the time you have without pain wisely."
Pieces were falling into place in my head, but I still wasn't sure what the hell was happening. Why was he having me release Rafael myself? Why was he telling me things in notes and not in person? I noted the double doors leading out of the room. It seemed strange that he'd just skip town after all that effort. Steeling myself for another trap, I cautiously opened the doors. Stopping, I backtracked to grab the chair to prop the door open, putting on the jacket in the process.
The next room was a sitting area, mostly in white, but with light gray and royal blue accents. The only thing out of place was the metal gurney in the middle of the room with a sheet covered body on it. Had he killed Rafael after all? I used the same caution I'd practiced when entering the room to remove the sheet. I bent to the floor to lightly take the corners of the sheet and I slowly lifted it, listening for clicks or hissing, anything to signify that I was setting off a trap. To pull it off, I backed away from the table slowly. If there was any resistance – if anything caught, I could stop before I tripped anything. Nothing caught, and the sheet slid off in my hands.
When I saw what was underneath, my breath left me. Rafael was far more stunning alive than his pictures had given him credit for. His chest rose and fell in peaceful slumber. The strap across that chest had the second letter that had been promised. It was addressed to both me and Rafael. I unstrapped the now living man. His cheeks were no longer desiccated and sunken in, and his naked body was flawless. On the table next to him was a tube of lip balm with a small note attached. "Lip balm has the remedy for what's keeping him asleep. I don't need to spell this out for you. Wake him up, Prince Charming."
I chuckled a little as the rest of the pieces fell into place in my head. Our tormentor was now out matchmaker. I knew the lip balm would be safe for me and I put it on. Then I leaned forward to press my lips to Rafael's. I kissed him...a lot. Probably more than was warranted. Perhaps it was my relief in being safe, or it was my desire for the man before me, who was so beautiful and sweet that he made my knees weak, but I couldn't stop, not even when his hands came up to hold my face and kiss me back...especially not then.
Eventually, we stopped and looked into each others' eyes.
"Come on," I told him, helping him off the gurney table and over to the much more comfortable plush sofa. I caught the letter as it fell from his chest, and I sat, nestled in Rafael's arms, to read it aloud.
"Forgive me, Cameron, for what I've done to you," it began. "My guess is that you've already put all the pieces together, so my explanation is purely for Rafael's benefit."
"Is that right?" Rafael asked. "Do you already know what's going on?"
"Maybe," I replied. "I'm not completely sure I have it right, so I'm looking forward to the explanation."
"None of this was about me, Rafael," the letter continued. "It was all about you. It was always about you, my love. I had thought reanimating you was the answer I needed, but I was wrong. I knew that the first night we made love after bringing you back. I'd done something very wrong and cursed you instead of saving you. When I researched the solution, I learned that there was only one thing that could bring you back completely and correctly, and that was my essence – the life force of an immortal being.
"Yes, I am inside you now and you have my immortality, along with my power."
Rafael sucked in air like he'd been punched in the gut. "He's gone," Rafael breathed. "I'm free."
"And immortal," I reminded him. "That's what he made me for, as a gift for you. Do you want to keep me?" His arms tightened around me in response, and I leaned my head back against his shoulder. I continued reading.
"Finding that solution to your lifelessness was easy, as was the decision to use it. What I had to spend years on was finding a suitable man for you to go on with after I was gone. He couldn't just be any man, but a man you could adore, and who would adore you back; a man who could help you take over my work when I was gone, but could do it far more compassionately than I ever could; a man who would be able to handle the burden of immortality.
"My own immortality has been long and painful. I've committed atrocities to bring it about. My life absorption potion, at first, only worked on children, who died screaming in pain. As I progressed and learned more, I was able to take the life of young adults, and I learned how to lessen the pain. Eventually, I learned how to link the process to the pleasure centers and make the process orgasmic, but by that point I had cause the painful deaths of thousands, just to prolong my own. At about ten thousand lives, the change became permanent and I stopped needing to steal any more. This is what you've inherited from me, Rafael. Permanent immortality.
"Cameron, you have quite a bit longer than you've calculated as well. There's something strange in the world, something you'll learn later, that makes a gay man's energy much more powerful than a woman's or a straight man's. It's about four times stronger, so you actually have about four thousand years left before you have to either take more life or allow yourself to die. That's a long time to figure out how to improve on what I've started and maybe learn how to do it without killing. I have faith that you can do it.
"Out of all the men I searched through, only three met my criteria of being extremely smart, beautiful, and having an ass Rafael would die to fuck. You, Cameron, along with Billy and Jonathan, were the three. Only you and Billy bothered to try to talk to Rafael, and Billy lacked compassion. Not only did you see him as the person he really was, you were able to work around things that shouldn't make sense. You tried to do your best with an impossible situation. You were everything I could have hoped for.
"While you were both asleep. I sent a video confession to the police, along with the identification of everyone who died. By now they'll know all those men are dead and so am I, and they'll know that I'm completely insane, that I killed all of them and then myself. They don't know about Cameron at all, and Rafael, you're on record as being my business partner. Over the past year, I've been putting everything into your name, so there's no question of inheritance. My properties, my accounts, everything, it's all yours now.
"You know where the magic lab is, and I suggest getting Cameron acquainted with it sooner rather than later. It will take you both a long time to learn how the science and magic can work together. Luckily, Cameron's brain will speed the learning process up. Rafael, you have my power inside of you. Everything I've built up and cultivated over the years is within you. Cameron will have to either start cultivating his own power or work with yours. The power takes longer to get than the knowledge, as you'll learn, so if you want to accomplish anything worthwhile in the first couple thousand years, you'll have to work as a team – Cameron's mind and your power.
"I think that's all I can put into writing here. The rest is in my journals and tomes at the lab. My time is running out and I must start the process of entering into you soon, my love. Make good choices and turn the world into the utopia I never could. Good bye.
"Oh, and have lots of sex with each other."
Rafael snorted behind me. "Did he really add that last part, or are those your words?"
"Yes," I said.
^^^
Author's note: Thus concludes this story. I do have ideas on how to use these two more in the future, but that will be down the line.
As always, you can contact me at jaycemarvel501@gmail.com
I've also started a Discord server at https://discord.gg/kVUrhJ7
I wanted a place where people could not only talk to me, but to each other.