Heat, Stress, Burns, and Cuts Ch. 08

Edward, our bodyguard, walked in the door. I gave him a hug as it had been a while since I had seen him. He was to stay with Samantha while we went off. Megan emerged from the bathroom looking absolutely stunning. She wore a tight fitting black dress that went down to her knee. There was a cut in the dress that worked its way up her left leg until her mid thigh that added a seriously sexy flair to an otherwise modest dress. I grabbed her, pulled her close and kissed her. We opened the door and headed out.

The car that arrived was a black Lincoln Navigator, with a car ahead and behind us. I thought it a bit much myself but the mayor was trying to insure Megan and my safety at all costs; a sentiment which is appreciated.

The farmlands swept farther than the eye could see. I sat, staring out the window looking out into space. I absent-mindedly caressed Megan's hand, trying to sooth the newfound jitteriness I seem to have when I am in a car that I'm not driving. I had Vitur open up a heads up display of traffic, oncoming cars, and the route navigation just so I could analyze something while we motored along the semi abandoned roads.

We pulled into a heavily shrubbed cobblestone laid driveway, it was inconspicuous in original appearance but later opened up to a large and twisty driveway. The central park style lights lit our path headed down the long drive. We came up upon a half-circle stone awning with the entrance to the large brick and stone estate that the Mayor called his own. I wondered what we were paying him for his services and how much of this he could afford on his governmental salary. Vitur quickly answered that for me with a pop-up on my HUD that showed we paid him just over $250,000 per year, and his salary for mayor was roughly the same. It seemed plausible, but Vitur also found that he came from a wealthy family as well, which explained it much better. Apparently the Glovers were well known in the Houston area even before his political endeavors.

Our door was opened for us and we were met by the family butler at the door. He quickly showed us inside to the grand foyer of the house, there stood Mayor Glover, his wife, and his daughter's.

"Mayor Glover," I said with a smile and an extended hand "Great to see you again."

"Mr. Vanderbuilt, great to see you could make it, and this must be your fiance, how do you do Ms. Gaulle?" He asked, while extending a hand to Megan.

"I am very well, thank you for asking Mayor Glover, you have a gorgeous property." She said, acting as if regality was in her blood.

"Thank you very much. Please, allow me to introduce my wife, Aida," he gestured to his wife, as she extended a hand outward "and our daughters, Amanda and Sophie." He gestured to his daughters as they came over to us and shook our hands, Sophie holding eye contact for a little longer than needed with me, I smiled at the feistiness.

We made our way to the great room and we all started to mingle and chat with the wonderful backdrop of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue on vinyl. Mayor Glover and I had whiskey while Megan opted for Gin. Aida, Amanda and Sophie all took vodka.

We formed small cliques within the group. The four girls started to talk and us gentlemen talked of The Collective and business as a whole. It turned out that Mayor Glover had been working with our group for around twenty years now. He isn't as spry as he once was, or so I am told, however after talking with him I do see intelligence behind his eyes and wisdom in his voice. I noted to Vitur to start some research while we sat down to dinner.

One whiskey turned to three and three to five. As we got to dessert everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves. Both of John's daughters were glancing over towards me, part of me said that I shouldn't pursue anything, but the other half says that I am a man and his daughters are extremely attractive... and legal. Amanda just turned nineteen, and Sophie was twenty.

I put the idea on the back burner as I was led by Mayor Glover to his study which housed some Padron cigars. We lit a couple up and I began to turn the conversation towards business.

"I saw on the news that you may not be running for another term. Is that the case?" I asked.

He sighed "Ah, yes. That very well may be the case. I am getting tired of juggling both jobs, the mayoral side and the, well, you know." he said referring to The Collective.

"Completely understandable. Does the work I give to you displease you at all?" I probed.

"No, quite the opposite, I thoroughly enjoy our work. However, I am sixty, and the work of going into the city everyday and working for ten hours a day can become taxing. You understand, no?" He asked, a perceived sadness in his eyes.

"Yes, I do. Well, in light of this, I have a proposal for you." I said as his ears perked up. "I would like you to run Collective operations full time. Meaning that any business we have south of Houston within the US, you will deal with it. A majority of this work can be done from your home and you've no need to leave, in case you'd like to of course. Anybody who has business with us, will come to you, not the other way around. How does that sound?"

"I... I don't know what to say, I would love that. But what of my Mayoral duties?" he asked.

"Well, the first order of business would be for you to find and groom a replacement for yourself. You can also hire help on for your new position. This offer also includes a pay raise; triple what we pay you now. You will also receive access to a discretionary fund, that will be applicable for bribes, travel, or anything else you would need."

"Oh gosh, that's too much sir. I...-"

"We pay our associates well, and we provide for them," I started "you know why? Because we value loyalty. You've been loyal under our employment for twenty years, and I hope to have you for many more years. You deserve it." I extend my hand to shake his.

"I gladly accept, sir. Thank you." He said reciprocating the handshake

"A man of your status within our company, please, call me Daniel." I smiled, taking a puff off my cigar "With that being said, I do want a list of possible candidates and I also want your personal opinion on all of them. You have the control over the decision but I just want to be kept in the loop."

"Understood. I already have a few people in mind. There is a younger man who I think would fit the bill nicely, we could even introduce him into your business as well?" he stated and seemed to ask all at once.

"I will give you authority on that, you seem to have it under control." I smiled as I sipped my whiskey.

We continued to chat for a while until our cigars were smoked down to nubs and our glasses were thoroughly emptied. We chatted of politics, future plans, past conquests, I saw the mayor's eye become a lit with passion more than once. The grandfather clock within the study struck eleven O'clock, soon after we emerged from the study to find that Megan, Sophie, Amanda, and Aide had switched to wine, and there were three empty bottles on the coffee table. They were all chatting like old friends catching up.

"I see you all are getting along just fine." I said smiling as I walked towards the bar to fill both the Mayor and my empty cup.

"Yez'we'ar" Megan slurred. "Theyve ben'good o'usts"

"Daniel," The Mayor started "We've got the space, I will have the maids make up the guest room. Your fiance has had a good bit to drink and we are not too far behind her." He said, thinking critically about his own sobriety, or lack thereof.

"Sure, John, we would be delighted to stay the night."

We all sat and talked for a while. We got along almost too well, it turns out that everyone has everything in common. The Mayor has even experimented with blacksmithing, of all things! That left plenty of subject matter to talk of until we realized that it had passed twelve thirty.

"Well," The mayor stood, "I've got a lot of things to work on tomorrow, " he nodded at me "so I think that I am going to call it a night. Aide, you going to tag along?" he asked as he shot back the lingering contents of his glass. Aide nodded her head and said her goodnites. Megan and her exchanged phone numbers and promised to keep in touch. With that they headed upstairs.

Sophie and Amanda soon followed their parents up for the night. Though I had the feeling that wouldn't be the last I saw of them by the way they had been eye-fucking Megan and I both.

That left Megan and I. She was already drunk so there was no use in trying to talk with her much. I carried her upstairs and got her out of her dress and into her underwear. I tucked her in and headed back downstairs. There are certain drawbacks to never sleeping, but all of the pros outweigh the cons.

As I stared out the window of the great room I became curious as to how much land the Mayor owned. Vitur informed me that Glover Estate spanned as far as I could see. With that I decided to take a walk outside. They had great lighting around the pool area, and cabana, as well as the general vicinity. The layout was very nice, concrete walkways that led from a large deck straight off the house to the large bean shaped pool and garado. Beyond that was a half a football field worth of cut and maintained grass. I kicked off my Italian shoes and walked barefoot.

The lukewarm Texas grass felt amazing between my bare toes and encompassing my feet. I continued to walk about, farther and farther from the house. Vitur aided me with night vision so I could see like it was day. He soon alerted me to something.

'Sir,' he spoke, 'there seems to be some sort of object that is foreign to the natural biological makeup of the area. Out a couple miles into the tall grass.'

"Well then. Let's explore" I said to no one.

We walked into the tall grass, Vitur put a pin like object up on my HUD as a waypoint marker. We continued to trek over until we came upon a small, circular patch of dirt amidst all the seven foot tall field of grass. It looked to be a shrine of some sort. In the middle sat a pendant necklace. It was rune-esque and was dark maroon in coloring, the chain was gold.

'Scan it.' I said to Vitur.

'There appears to be no traps of any kind. But I will do all the other scans I can do and will report back. Hang tight.' he replied.

'Okay' I said 'Get Saga to come in and see if she has any insight on it from past Vanderbuilt's.' Saga came into the conversation and presented herself in front of us.

'I have seen ritual sights like this many times before. This particular ritual is one of the Norse. It is - was, a sacrifice ground. If Vitur was to scan the ground beneath you will most likely find bones of some sort. The necklace in the middle of the sacrifice area is a pendant worn by the sacrificed. They are rumored to have collected the life essence, or soul, of all those who were sacrificed. Every man, their beliefs, strengths, weaknesses, skills, and memories. Daniel, do not take this lightly. If you put this necklace on it will permanently change you. Before wearing it remember that. It would surely kill anyone normal, and could very likely kill you.'

I took her words to heart and decided to give it time before I decided whether or not to wear it. So I picked it up and slipped it into my pocket. I started to walk back. As I closed in on the maintained grass, I felt as if I was being watched. I alerted Vitur to this and he started scanning the area. He found the figure straight ahead of me, about 500 yards away. I bluffed and continued to walk as if I had no knowledge of the figure. Then suddenly I tapped into Saga's collective knowledge and learned about stealth and guerrilla warfare from one of my ancestors.

As quickly as I was walking normally, I slipped down, and started to stalk my way over to flank the figure. It seemed to notice this and started to close in on my last location. It was too late as I already was a hundred yards to the east of where it currently was. I played it slow after that, stalking north then wrapping around to come up behind the figure. I came up to it and continued to inch forward. I was roughly 25 yards away now, and I then noticed that the figure wasn't a threat, but instead it was Sophie, Mayor Glover's daughter. I stood, and I walked towards her.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked as I strided up to her.

"Huh!" She jumped "how did you get there?" she asked still stunned.

"I'm magic, didn't you know?"

"Why were you out here?" she asked.

"I like to stroll in seven foot tall grass in the wee small hours of the morning. Isn't it obvious?" I retorted. "And yourself?"

"Personal curiosity about a houseguest." she responded with a smirk.

I fawned concern "Where?" I whispered while looking over both shoulders. She giggled.

"I guess he's gone." She said looking around.

"He must be magic as well." I offered in reply.

"Megan may have mentioned something about magic... yours in particular" She smiled, biting her lip taking a quick glance down. After that I quickly decided that I could no longer hold back and I had to give it a shot.

"Hey," I started, "There are a lot of ticks out in this tall grass isn't there?" I said nodding my head a little, looking straight at her with my eyebrows just a little higher than usual, hoping she'd play along.

"Why yes," she beamed "and we wouldn't want you, or especially me having any ticks while going back into the house would we?"

"Definitely not," I said "Perhaps there is somewhere which we could check ourselves for them?" I asked.

"Hmm," she said with a half grin, comically touching her index finger to her chin "How about the cabana just outside the pool? I think that would be the best location." she winked at the end.

"Lead the way." I said smiling and starting to drop the facade. She started running towards the cabana. I followed.

Once inside she turned to me and said "well, I don't think there are any private changing rooms. I guess we will need to check ourselves here." she gestured to the well furnished cabana and bar we were currently standing in.

"Well, since you say that..." I took my jacket off and turned around, would you mind checking my back, I can't quite see it that well after all.

"Why, what kind of host would I be to decline a request such as that?" she asked rhetorically walking toward me.

She turned me around and started at my neck, feeling her way down my back and up my sides. She turned me around and ran her hands down my abs and stopped at the beginning of my pubic bone. I touched my hand to the small of her neck.

"Your turn." Was all I said.

I repeated the same process with her, scanning my hands all up and down her gown, imagining the body that lay beneath.

"You know," she began, "I heard somewhere that ticks can hide in lingerie, is that true?" she asked with a coy grin.

"Well I'm not going to question the professionals, I'll need to check my undershirts too, for transparency sake." I said in reply.

"Why of course!" she replied.

As I stripped out of my tux, the petite brunette stepped out of her royal blue dress to reveal a pair of matching royal blue lingerie. Her tits were small, but perky, and as she turned around I noticed her ass was on the large side, and firm.

"You know what," I said, dropping my hands to her waist, "I'm about done with this game. " I declared while in one motion ripping off her panties with my hands.

It was on. She dove into me, her kiss was passionate and fierce. I could feel the heat and horniess radiating off her. She dropped down and unzipped my pants. I pulled my dick out of my boxers and picked her up. I laid on the cabanas couch and she wasted no time taking my cock and lining it up with her pussy. I sat back and let her ride. She had the energy it seems. She started her bouncing slow, trying to still be within kissing range, I wanted her to go faster so I did the only thing I could think of; I slapped her on the ass of course. This got her bucking faster and faster, eager for more. I felt her first orgasm swell and crest. Then immediately after a second. She tried to egg me on to cum on her third.

"Cum. For. Me. Dan. Ny" she said only able to get a syllable out each bounce she took. "Cum. Cum. Cum." she continued to chant.

With a roar I came like it was the first time. Shooting bigger ropes than I ever thought possible.

We collapsed onto the ground beneath the couch sprawled out and intertwined. My cock still inside its warm lodging as it grew soft. She thrust her hips a couple more times, humping me like a pillow. Trying to ride a couple more waves of her third orgasm.

She went gave me a peck on the lips, cleaned our - well, mostly her juices off the couch and the surrounding area before heading inside and upstairs. I inferred that she didn't want her father knowing what had happened. I was preoccupied with this necklace anyway so I didn't pay it much mind.

I took it out of my pocket and just stared at it. I knew that eventually I would need to try it on because of me being who I am; a moron. Like an itch that needs to be scratched, it stared me in the face. Waiting for me to put it on.

"Fuck it." I said to myself.

I grabbed the necklace and put it on. At first, nothing happened. Maybe Saga was wrong. Maybe it was just a piece of jewelry. But then I started to feel something; the feeling of intoxication, starting off as a kind and gentle intoxication but quickly snowballing into a large and brutal one that left nearly paralyzed, mentally and physically. I heard the ominous baritone of a thunderous voice that boomed in my ear.

'Are you the one to be sacrificed?" it spoke how thunder struck, powerful and loud.

'No' I said, 'I am here for knowledge.'

'Ahhh' he sighed, the sound seemed like enough to make my ears bleed, if it wasn't for the fact that this was all taking place within my brain. 'You are here, to hear what the sacrificed had to say? You come here with valor! The Gods are impressed. Do you believe you can handle such a burden, human?' It asked with a slight tone of disbelief.

'Well, hell, I'm here already. Why not?' I asked, to say words in my inner monologue was a mighty task at this point.

'So be it, I like you, you've got balls! Perhaps we shall meet again, in Valhalla.'

'I'd like that. First round is on me' I said in reply, with a smile. It was recieved with a deafening guffaw from this man.

The pain was worse than anything I've ever experienced. This pain is not one that I can describe. It was a combination of pleasure, joy, mourning, sex, battle, war, death, and time. Sheer time. Much of it could have been perceived as enjoyable. However none of it was because it all came so quickly and with such veracity that all I could feel was my brain trying, and failing to reason with it. It was as if I lived five lives simultaneously within a small fraction of the life that I currently live. The confines of time and my own brain's capacity to reason with this onslaught made it freeze with confusion and disillusion.

In sheer seconds my body took the form, and lived the lives of five other men simultaneously. A Jarl in Norway, a politician in Sweden, a noble warrior in Iceland, a ladies man in Ireland, and a conqueror of the seas. All had different lives, families, passions, desires, tastes. My brain simultaneously tried to mash all of those differences into my own. It was a brutal and painstaking process. I felt myself starting to weaken and let go, but I grasped to life for all it was worth. I thought of Megan and Samantha, of Aldrich and my father. I clung to it all. This went on for what felt like millenia, but was over within seconds. I was a heaping pile of sweat and flesh on the floor when I heard his booming voice let out a triumphant chant.